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Chapter Text

Tony put down the hood of the Acura NSX and picked up a rag to wipe the grease off his hands. May was probably going to think the gift was too much, but the car was 5 years old. Used cars were what you were supposed to give 16-year-olds for their birthday after all, even if said car was a sporty convertible, with more than a few custom modifications. At least, Tony was pretty sure that made it an appropriate gift. He frowned as he contemplated whether or not he was overthinking that, he probably was. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

Anyway, it would be a practical gift as well. Now Peter would be able to drive himself out to spend time in the Long Island lab with him, without Tony needing to call him a driver, and it'd be useful for him when he went off to university in a couple of years. Tony could even show him how to upkeep the car and its modifications himself, it'd be easy to pick up for someone as tech savvy as Peter, but would still easily fill up a few Saturday afternoons.

He got lost for a moment in thoughts of working on the car with Peter in a way he'd always wanted to with his dad, but Howard had never had the time. No matter how many times he'd promised they would.

"Boss..." FRIDAY's voice jerked him from his thoughts, "you're getting a call and I don't think you'll want me to just send this one to voicemail like the others."

"And that would be because...?"

"The signal is based off-world."

Well that was unexpected. "Audio only, or video as well?"

"Video. Will I route it to your phone, or the garage console?"

Tony headed for the console, the only person he knew off-world was Thor, and it'd been more than a year since he'd seen the big guy. "This should be interesting..."

The short hair and eye-patch were surprising, but what was even more surprising was, "Bruce?!"

“Hey Tony,” Bruce said with a half-smile. “Uh... it’s been a while.”

"Two years is more than 'a while', Bruce, and... space? I'm not even sure where to start with that."

Thor smiled wryly, "Perhaps, friend Stark, we can start with a place to land our ship, and then we can explain all that has happened in more detail."

"A ship, so that explains the super-orbital signal, but how is the signal quality this good? I mean even if you have a faster and stronger means of sending a signal, I've got Earth tech. Which, being my tech, is the best, but I doubt I could manage a call like this with someone further away than... Mars. Wait," Tony's brows lifted in further surprise, "are you hanging out by Mars?"

"We're in the sensor shadow cast by your moon, actually."

Tony pointed a pen at Bruce accusingly. "I know he's our ally, but you are not supposed to be helping other-worldly beings navigate our planet's blind spots. Quite the opposite actually. What if someone followed you?" He had to suppress a shiver at the thought of the Chitauri leviathans coming down from the sky once more, and this time without a handy portal to pinch off and stop them.

“It’s not like the Aesir don’t know how to hide from sensors,” Bruce said. “I just mentioned that we had a moon and-”

“For the love of the Nine Realms,” a voice said off camera. “Thor, we have nearly 300 people to feed and water, and our supplies are quite depleted. Can you hurry him along to the important matters or do I need to take over?”

That... no, it couldn't be. He was dead, Thor said he'd watched him die. But that voice was one he'd never forget. "Thor..."

Thor tried for a winning smile, but Tony wasn't buying it. "Yes, I might have missed the part where Asgard has been destroyed, and we have refugees on board, whom require shelter at least temporarily."

"A bag of cats, who apparently isn't as dead as was previously reported, wouldn't happen to be responsible for that destruction, would he?" Tony quirked his brow accusingly, Thor was not getting off that easily.

“I was commanded by the current King of Asgard to do it. So, while it’s technically true, it was an order.”

“It’s true, Thor ordered him to do it,” Bruce said. “And Loki isn’t the only crazy sibling in their family.”

"I... don't even know where to begin with that..." Tony scrubbed his hand through his hair. "Fucking Ross is going to have a field day with this if he finds out nearly 300 aliens with superhuman strength are planning to land on our planet, claim some sort of asylum, and one of them is a known war criminal who has apparently recently destroyed a planet. And he thought Steve was a liability," he muttered to himself, trying to think through how this could work without losing everything he'd worked for since Siberia.

“Firstly,” Loki said, now coming on screen to stand beside Thor and Bruce, “Asgard was technically a planetoid. Secondly, it wasn’t actually me that did it, I just resurrected a fire giant and he did it. Thirdly, who is this ‘Ross’?”

“An awful, awful military guy, who would really like to get his hands on the Hulk,” Bruce said with a sigh.

"Actually, he's Secretary of State now, but he's not any more palatable in a suit. Also, the boy band broke up, and I think that story 's at least as long as yours, so we'll table it for now." Tony drummed his fingers on the workbench as he studied the unlikely trio in front of him. Loki still gave off the air of a disgruntled cat, but this time the cat seemed less likely to immediately bite his hand, and substantially better fed and groomed. Of course he was still a cat, pet him in the wrong place and there'd no doubt be blood... Aaaand that was far enough with that analogy.

"I don't suppose that ship of yours has any special bells and whistles that would let you get past satellite and radar detection to land?" Tony asked hopefully, but only a little bit, because if their spaceship did, others could as well. And that was a whole other realm of nightmare fuel he'd rather stay away from right now, thanks.

“No, as far as we can tell the Statesman is just a cargo ship. It’s not made to do anything fancy,” Bruce said.

“Not my first choice,” Loki said, casting a somewhat dirty look at Thor. “But I suppose my first choice would not have allowed us to rescue our people.”

“Yeah and I wasn’t really comfortable sitting on any furniture in your first choice anyway,” Bruce told him and Loki rolled his eyes.

“Please, he had it washed down and sanitised after every party.” Loki smirked in a way that spoke far more of mischief than menace, and inspired an amused grin from Bruce.

"I'm both intrigued and horrified at what that exchange implies."

Thor gave the pair of them a disapproving look, which only intrigued Tony more. "I have seen things on that ship's holo-recorder which cannot be unseen, more's the pity. That ship will remain in the cargo hold as a means of last resort, and that will be it. Asides which, it would take at least 10 trips to ferry everyone to the surface with it."

Loki snorted with laughter and Bruce was trying to hide his continuing grin.

“So,” Loki said after composing himself. “Where do we land? Our people really are in desperate need of supplies.”

"Exactly how big of a ship are we talking about?" That had Bruce and Tony descending into nearly ten minutes of discussion on the logistics of a ship of that magnitude landing on Earth, and how to go about it without causing mass panic or relegating the ship to a landing site in Antarctica or the Sahara. Thor and Loki started having some sort of conversation in the background with just looks, Tony was pretty certain they were being mocked somehow, and for the first time he could actually believe that the two men, who looked so very different, were actually brothers.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's moments like this where I actually miss SHIELD. Even if half of them did turn out to be Nazi scumbags." Tony shook his head, how had this become his life? Oh, that's right, shrapnel to the chest, and what Pepper had dubbed his 'heroic martyr complex'.

"So, I'm pretty sure the clearing behind the Avengers Compound upstate should be big enough, and sufficiently remote enough, to land that baby without causing general panic and chaos. Call me back in an hour, and hopefully I'll have Rhodey handling the part where we talk the UN into ensuring you don't have fighter jets trying to take you out on the way down."

“Okay, I’m sure everyone will be glad to be on solid ground. I know I’ll be glad to be on Earth again.” Bruce smiled at that and then looked behind him at Thor and Loki, who were still watching. “You both done making fun of us?”

“We would never make fun of you,” Loki said. “Stark - yes - you, never.”

“You just don’t want me to remodel the bridge with you as the Big Guy,” Bruce said with a smile.

“It’s not on the top of my to do list,” Loki said. “Now, I need to go, I have a drink scheduled with Valkyrie. Are we done here, or do I need to babysit this conversation some more?”

"Go," Thor said with a long-suffering roll of his eye, "she's nearly out of supplies, and I fear she might get into even more trouble than you when bored. She may be more direct and less deceitful with her amusements, but she is also more prone to breaking things in a spectacular fashion."

"I don't know, he broke New York in rather spectacular fashion," Tony couldn't help drawling.

Loki turned to look at the monitor, eyes narrowed. “At least I did not accidentally make an AI that tried to obliterate the planet and everyone who lived there.”

"...Well, I never said I wasn't a hot mess," but he couldn't help giving Bruce a betrayed look. Fraternising with the enemy now. He was supposed to be Tony's buddy and lab partner, not tall dark and sassy's new best bud to swap secrets with.

Bruce looked at Tony, then back at Loki, before looking back to the monitor again. “Wait - no - I didn’t - Loki, tell him!”

Loki laughed, backing towards the door, a giddy spring in his step. “Sorry gentlemen, I have an appointment to keep.” And he turned, walking from the room to go find his friend. Bruce watched him go and then looked back to the screen. “Tony, I didn’t tell him! He was going back and forth to Earth while he was ‘dead’. He saw the news.”

"It never hit the news that you and I directly made Ultron, the UN kept that quiet. It's one of Ross' favourite bargaining chips to keep me in line," Tony admitted bitterly.

It was only then that he noticed Thor looking slightly abashed.

"I may have... let certain details slip." Thor grimaced at the pair of accusing looks this now got him. "He asked some very pointed questions, and I did not realise the information he already had did not come from yourself, Banner. As you said, my brother was visiting Earth in disguise while he posed as Odin on the throne."

Bruce sighed and then looked back to Tony expectantly.

"Sorry Brucey Bear, my lack of faith was clearly misplaced. As an apology I'll give you a full tour of the upgraded lab at the compound, once you've touched down. I could do with your input on the latest Spidey-suit I'm working on, actually," Tony mused, thoughts tumbling off into a whole other direction, "I've yet to find a way to satisfactorily balance out radiation protection with the requirements for stretch and low mass."

Bruce stared at him for a moment and shook his head. “I think we have a lot of catching up to do.”

"You don't know the half of it. So, call me back in an hour. If I'm not on Long Island by that point, FRIDAY will route the call for me." There was a pretty good chance by the time they called he'd be in one of his suits, halfway to the compound.

"My people and I thank you for your assistance, Stark, and we will contact you again at the ascribed time."

As they hung up the call, Tony felt a mix of joy at having Bruce, and even Thor back, and dread at having to tell him how he lost most of the others... Until then, he had a lot to get done.

It had taken Loki only a little convincing to secure a place on the initial landing party. Thor had tried to tell him that it was a bad idea, that out of all the people on the ship he would cause the most difficulty. Loki patiently pointed out that he was going to be a problem sometime, and why not get it out of the way? Stark knew he was alive already, and he had been on his best behaviour lately.

Also, Thor realised that if he didn’t let Loki come with them, he was only going to follow and get into mischief anyway. Better to have him nearby where Thor could keep an eye on him, than to have him running around unsupervised on Earth.

“Just remember, I have officially been pardoned,” Loki told Thor as they waited on the doors of the ship opening. “Earth gave Asgard the authority to deal with my crimes.”

“Pardoned does not mean innocent,” Heimdall reminded, glancing at Loki.

“Well no,” Loki said with a roll of his eyes. Thor would bring Heimdall, the most boring Aesir to ever live. He’d much rather spend time with his sister, at least that had been interesting. And it had taken him to Sakaar.

He wondered briefly how the Grandmaster was doing. Knowing him, he had probably weaselled out of any real danger. He had this way of getting people to do what he wanted. He had found the Grandmaster to be a kindred spirit of sorts.

Loki staggered slightly as the Valkyrie clapped him on the shoulder. How a woman a whole head shorter than him consistently managed that, when he could hold up against Thor's own brotherly shoulder grabs, was a wonder. Except... she scared him far more than Thor.

"Don't worry, he won't cause any trouble today," she grinned at him, "will you, Loki?"

“Not today, at least.”

"No, it's all about timing."

Thor gave them both a look, before turning to look back at the cargo bay door, waiting for Bruce to open it. "Neither of you are particularly reassuring."

“You would be worried if I were too obliging,” Loki said with a huff and looked to Valkyrie. “I cannot win it seems.”

"You're alive and we made it to another planet before we all starved, seems close enough to winning to me." Her grin was all teeth, and Loki had to suppress a shiver.

“Well... if it makes you feel any better, the last time I saw somewhere Stark lived, he had copious amounts of alcohol.” He hoped the promise of some alcohol would distract her enough to leave him alone. He saw Bruce shake his head and he set the door to open.

It was a glorious sight, seeing sunshine and grass. They had been cooped up on that ship for months, with nowhere to breathe fresh air or relax. He didn’t know how the long-haul carriers did it, moving from planet to planet, never setting down. They took a moment before Thor walked and they followed behind him.

He had to admit, it was nice to feel like he had allies again, ones that didn’t want to kill him this time.

And then he spotted another one, unexpected but welcome, standing amongst those waiting for them in front of the building that Stark had said was the new Avengers facility.

Stark, and a man he was certain was Rhodes, stepped forward to meet them.

"So," Stark grinned as he took Thor's hand, "is the eye-patch compulsory to be an Aesir king?"

"Hardly," but Thor did chuckle a bit. "Thank you for arranging this, you as well Colonel Rhodes. My people appreciate the assistance."

"No problem, big guy, though I'm afraid we couldn't avoid the obligatory meeting with the suits upon your arrival. Though I did manage to keep it to two."

Thor looked past Stark to where he'd gestured, and he frowned as soon as he laid eyes on the well put-together business woman.

“It’s good to meet you,” the man said, bringing attention to himself. “I’m Agent Ross, I’ve heard a lot about you Prince-”

“King,” Loki interrupted.

“Oh - yes - King Thor.” Ross frowned a bit and looked between the brothers. “What happened to...”

“Dead,” Loki said. “Along with mother and our sister.”

“Sister?” Colonel Rhodes asked, looking now to Stark. “You never mentioned them having a sister.”

Thor grimaced, "Neither had our father, until she was on her way to seek her revenge for banishment from Asgard. Hela is why we are here, all those on the ship are the remainder of the Aesir people that were on Asgard at the time of Hela's rampage. Our world was destroyed in stopping her."

Stark quirked a brow at Bruce. "Well that's quite the mess to have gotten yourself in the middle of."

“Well... you know, I was on Sakaar until Thor found me. Then we escaped to go beat Hela, and Loki saved us all-”

“Yes, I did,” Loki interjected. “Without me they’d all be dead, and Ragnarök would never have happened.”

“You did good on that one,” Bruce said with an amused smile, “and you no longer have the title of ‘Craziest Odin Kid’.”

Loki sighed. “I had just framed the award too...” He kept an eye on Stark, curious to see if he would react to the banter between him and Bruce. “I have it framed alongside my pardon from the King of Asgard.” He gave a grin to Thor, and was gratified to see Stark's smile had become tighter, more strained.

"Yes, yes, you can reminisce later," Stark broke in, "we've neglected finishing our introductions. Thor, you remember Vision and my head of Security, Happy Hogan. And Agent here has brought along the one you have to thank for smoothing over more than a few ruffled feathers at the UN, Attaché Amora Karnilladottir of the Icelandic delegation."

"Amora..."

Before Thor could give away the plot, Amora was stepping up to take his hand eagerly. "King Thor," she had a noticeable Scandinavian accent, and a charmingly innocent smile, with just the right touch of hero worship. "Iceland is truly honoured to have you visiting our world, and I will do whatever I can to help facilitate matters for you and your people. I only wish we could have had you come visit our country directly, but the Americans were rather insistent."

Loki was glad that Amora had been so forward, and was doubly glad that she had gotten over her unhealthy infatuation with his brother. It was also good that she threw him off by being so friendly. He’d need to talk to Thor later about it. Maybe. He liked to keep his brother in the dark, it made him think harder, something he could only do with more of.

"I... Thank you, Attaché..." Thor said uncertainty, and Loki could see that the humans all just took it as Thor not quite knowing how to handle her enthusiasm. Heimdall, of course, was just looking at him with that unsettlingly gold gaze of his, but he didn't speak up at least.

"May I present my brother, Prince Loki, and the warriors Heimdall, the Valkyrie, and Bruce."

“Well - uh... I’m not exactly a warrior,” Bruce said in his awkward way, rubbing the back of his neck.

“No, but The Hulk is,” Loki looked at him. “I’m sure he’d describe himself as a warrior.”

“Yeah, but the ‘Mighty Warrior Bruce’ isn’t exactly fearsome.”

Loki supposed he had a point, but it didn’t negate the fact that he was a formidable warrior to have around. Without him, Loki wasn’t sure they would have beat Hela.

Amora laughed, and it was an infectiously pleasant sound, Loki suspected there was ever so slightly enough magic to ensure their audience would find it pleasant. "Now that we've had our introductions, I believe we should move inside to hear your story, and see what can be arranged to help your people."

"Yes, certainly. Please, lead the way," Thor gestured graciously for the Earth contingent to go first. As they turned away, Thor gave Loki a slightly suspicious look. It seemed he'd noticed Loki's own lack of surprise. Loki had to remind himself that over the past few years Thor had shown himself to be more observant than expected. Seeing through his illusion in his cell, anticipating his betrayal while they escaped Sakaar, not to mention realising it was him on the Aesir throne.

It was something to ponder at least. And something to be mindful of.

They entered a spacious meeting room with sandwiches and other refreshments set aside for them, helping themselves to platefuls, before sitting down at the conference table. Loki was quite content to let Thor lead the discussions. He was the Prince, not the King. Smoothing things over with the humans was Thor's job, not his.

He was glad that most of the attention remained on Thor, it was nice to just listen, to put away what information he could so he and Thor could talk when out of earshot of the humans. He ate his sandwiches, his eyes moving from face to face, trying to get a feel for them and what they could expect.

Of course he knew Amora, his clever friend wasn’t looking at him, not wishing to give the game away too soon. Ross - at least this Ross, seemed pleasant enough, if somewhat clueless. Another ‘Agent’ like the ones that had been on the helicarrier. Concerned with politics and how to smooth over the feathers of those in charge, considering how best to acquire the friendship of such a powerful people, while also trying to ignore the fact that a known war criminal was at the table.

His eyes flicked to Loki every so often, and the part of Loki that enjoyed being difficult was glad he made the man uncomfortable.

Colonel Rhodes was a bit of a surprise, however. He listened intently, asked pointed questions, and was respectful yet demanded respect. He also seemed to be the only one that could shut Stark up with but a look. From what Loki could remember from his time visiting Earth over the past year or so, not only was Colonel Rhodes a war hero, he was the War Machine, which made him worth watching.

Stark was worth watching too.

Barton had told him that Anthony Edward Stark was as reckless as he was intelligent. That he was a brilliant man, who was both overconfident and insecure. That he put on a good show, but was more than a bit of a mess, which had made him uncertain how useful he would be as an Avenger. He’d also told Loki that Stark’s only real weakness was those whom he cared about.

At the time the only name Barton had for someone that Stark cared about had been Pepper Potts. He had considered going after her when he invaded New York, but it was just poor taste going after a warrior’s helpless partner. He would never have hurt her, but it would have been good leverage.

“-government will be interested to know what Loki’s punishment was. They’ll want to know that he didn’t get to just roam free when you took him back to Asgard in chains. That there were consequences to his actions.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly in Colonel Rhode’s direction. He waited for a moment, glancing at Thor, but he hadn't needed to worry.

"You will give Prince Loki his title, as is his right as my brother, and his reinstated status after his pardon for services to the Realms."

Colonel Rhodes looked from Thor to Loki. “My apologies Prince Loki.”

“Your apology is appreciated colonel Rhodes. I have paid my debt and have assisted in protecting the Nine Realms from our sister, as well as from Malekith, a Dark Elf intent on destroying all light in the universe.”

“And that’s when you faked your death?” Colonel Rhodes asked pointedly.

Loki sighed. “I did not fake my death. The details are likely too complex for you to understand.” He waved his hand dismissively and internally smiled as he saw Colonel Rhodes sit up just that little bit straighter. “Magic is a curious thing.”

"So you're saying you died, but magic brought you back?" Stark was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.

“Magic or a quirk of biology that I didn’t know about. It’s not my fault that Thor left my body on Svartalfheim. I just took advantage of the situation.”

Thor did an admirable job of hiding his own surprise at that revelation. Loki was reasonably certain he was the only one that had noticed the way Thor's shoulders had tightened, and he wondered if this would lead to his being cornered later for either an explanation or an apology. Knowing his brother, perhaps both.

"Prince Loki suffered a blow he had no guarantee of surviving, one which I as well would have struggled to overcome." The stiffness in Thor's voice could easily be taken as falling behind formality to mask irritation at his brother, and implicitly his own judgment, being called into question.

"He also risked death in the final evacuation of Asgard, and carrying out our only chance to stop Hela before her power could reach beyond its borders. This was done when he had every opportunity to act selfishly and leave Asgard to her fate. He did not, and I am satisfied that he bears no ill intention towards the realms, just a desire to return to the creature comforts to which he is accustomed, and to which none of my people have had for these last months."

“He’s not wrong,” Loki said, indulging a very brief fantasy about a bath. They had showers on the ship, but over the past week they had been conserving water. It had led to some very unpleasant smelling rooms. “We would like to be able to get everyone off the ship, and for us-” he motioned to their contingent - “to at least have spaces to call our own off the ship while we negotiate terms.” He looked to Amora, he was sure she’d be able to get them what they needed. She was a very talented and resourceful woman.

"That all seems perfectly reasonable to me," Amaora smoothly agreed. "Certainly, Colonel Rhodes, you can't find it objectionable for these people to have access to this compound at the very least? They are refugees, led by a man seen as a hero of many on our own world," she gestured to Thor. "It will take a great deal of time to arrange the proper negotiations to either outfit their ship for what would no-doubt be a long journey to find a new home, or to negotiate for one here on Earth, but until then, hospitality dictates we at least see to the requirements of basic dignity."

Loki watched Colonel Rhodes as he considered all this. He glanced at Stark beside him, and then back to Loki. “I think something could be arranged.” Colonel Rhodes looked at Stark properly now and it was clear he was suppressing a sigh. “There are guest rooms, enough to accommodate them, right?”

"If we're putting 2 to a bed, there's enough space for about 50 people, though that'd be cut down to 45 if we're providing each of you," Stark gestured at the five of them including Bruce, "with your own rooms. I can get more beds, but it'll take at least another day, and I wasn't certain what facilities were like on the ship."

"More beds would be appreciated, most sleep on pallets in the cargo hold at present," Thor agreed without presuming answers for the rest of them on the private rooms. "We will confer regarding the first to get off the ship, while you make your arrangements."

“Alright,” Colonel Rhodes looked at Stark and then Ross. “How long will it take to arrange everything?”

“A couple of hours I think,” Ross said. “I have some phone calls to make.”

“Then shall we meet back here in two hours?” Loki asked them. “I’d rather not waste too much time getting the children off of the ship.” With 45 spaces, it should be enough room to get the children and their parents off the ship. Most of their warriors would be happy to remain on the pallets to let the families have the best accommodations possible.

Stark looked both surprised and thoughtful at Loki's words. "Do you need more clothes for the kids? If so, I'll need an idea of ages or sizes. I don't really have anything here suited to anyone smaller than a human teenager."

“Well, all they have with them is the clothes they came with. We lost everything on Asgard.” He had tried not to think too hard about what happened to his home. It was still a bit surreal to think that it was all gone. That he would never walk the halls of the palace again. “There are a few children that the clothes would fit I think, and if they’re a little big, they’re easily altered.”

"Happy will help coordinate the rooms and visits to the Stark Industries canteen at the warehouse site next-door, but I think we're going to need someone to help make a more detailed supply list outside of food and beds if you're going to be here more than a few days, which I'm rapidly suspecting will be the case." Stark glanced at Amora, but she just gave him a diplomat's noncommittal smile. "So, who's going to be the liaisons for what then?"

Thor looked at his side of the table, considering. "Heimdall, you will work with Mr. Hogan to organize our people." Loki could see the thoughts going through Thor's head after this, he'd want Bruce by his side to help ensure they weren't taken advantage of in any negotiations by virtue of not understanding Midgardian culture as well as a native, and the Valkyrie was better suited to being a bodyguard than any kind of logistics, which meant, "And Loki, I would appreciate it if you could ensure Stark has a full picture of our people's needs."

“Of course,” Loki said. He was the one the people had been coming to for assistance while they travelled. They had begun to trust him after he brought the ship, and even more as he was able to generally get them what they needed on board. Extra blankets, a bit of extra food, and even entertainment for the children some days.

And the adults as well. He had entertained a few in his private rooms, but that was another detail entirely.

He looked to Stark now, meeting his gaze. “Shall we begin then?”

"Sure," Stark stood and waved for him and Heimdall to follow, Vision and Hogan on his heels, leaving the others to continue the diplomatic discussions.

"Happy, if you'd take our guest and show him what the rooms are like, as well as how the canteen works, we can start getting people fed and watered."

Hogan eyed Loki with suspicion, which he supposed he deserved since he had thrown the man's employer out a building the last time they'd been alone together, before turning and leading Heimdall down the hall.

"Vis, you don't have to babysit me. I'm a big boy, I can look after myself."

“I am not babysitting you. I just do not trust him alone in your presence. He threw you out of a window the last time you met, if you fail to recall.”

“I wouldn’t do that this time,” Loki said as they walked. “We’re on the ground floor, it would be pointless.”

"See? Also, what benefit to him is there in trying to kill me? If I'm dead, the negotiations are going to take a serious hit, and he's not going to get any of the luxuries he's been missing. It's in his own self-interest to be on good behaviour. Besides, FRIDAY will be watching me and can call for you if you're that worried."

"I do have cameras in all public areas, as well as all of sir's private rooms. I will be certain to summon you if you are needed," a disembodied female voice joined the discussion.

Vision glanced at Loki and Loki smiled a bit, his eyes on the stone in Vision’s forehead. He wondered how he had come to have the object embedded in his head. He could see the power swirling inside it, and he wondered how anyone even close to human could possibly handle that power, especially so close to the brain.

He also wondered about FRIDAY. The last AI he had encountered in one of Stark’s buildings had been called JARVIS. Perhaps Stark had a different one for each location? He was sure he would find out soon enough.

“Very well,” Vision said, glancing from Loki back to Stark. “I will be right there should he try anything.”

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Vis," Stark said with a hand wave, and quickly started down the corridor in the opposite direction Hogan and Heimdall had gone, not giving Vision another opportunity to argue.

Loki followed him, looking around as he went, getting a feel for the size of the building. He would need to get a chance to properly explore after he had given Stark the details of what they would need.

There were 258 Aesir and 23 other refugees from Sakaar, that wasn't including himself and the others that had meet with the Earth delegation. All of the refugees would need food, water, clothes, and facilities to wash. They all could do with some fresh air, and certainly the children could be doing with something entertaining to do.

The assault course he had created with the barrels and boxes in one corner of the cargo hold had entertained them for a while, but it just wasn’t the same as being outside. Most of the adults had lost weight as well, food had been rationed for most of the trip. Loki had given some of his own rations to the three nursing mothers.

Oh, that was another thing. They needed things for the babies.

“This is going to be a long list,” he told Stark as they reached their destination.

The space was half office and half... well, it wasn't fitted out well enough for a lab, so he supposed it was a tinkering space, of sorts. That was the area Stark lead him over to, gesturing to a chair at the table and sitting across, where he waved some holoscreens into life.

"Yeah, I figured. Fortunately, Stark Industries is familiar with stepping in to support disaster and refugee situations. I'm afraid they'll have to cope with Earth styles in their clothes and other necessities for now, in the interests of expediency. But that doesn't mean you can't make some choices in styles where available to make things a little less alien."

Stark flicked one of the screens over to him, it was displaying different pieces of clothing. "These are the suppliers we usually use, it's all mass produced, so the selection isn't particularly customisable, but it's quick."

“Quick is what we need,” Loki said, looking over the different options. Most of it looked practical enough, and once they had established themselves in their new home, they would be able to make their own clothes. “We have one pregnant woman, so she will need something that will allow room for her stomach. We also have three nursing women, so they will need something of a wrap top for easy access. Other than that, these all look fine.”

"Try that list," Stark flicked another screen over, "there should be some maternity wear in there. And FRIDAY, put these orders through as soon as we've completed each of them. Charge them to the disaster relief budget."

"Of course, boss. Prince Loki, if you could make a list for me of the genders, number of each, and approximate sizes they require. I can complete the orders from there based on your style choices."

That would take a while, and then he had an idea. “That could take a while... can you connect to the computer on our ship? If you can, I can download some files for you, which would give you the information of the census I took at the beginning of our trip.”

"Well, you were able to make the comms channels work, so it should be possible theoretically. Especially if you've got someone still working the comms link at your side."

Stark pulled up another panel and waved Loki to come around. It took a bit of time, and Loki had to talk Korg through a few of the finer points of the comms system that the Kronan wasn't familiar with, but they got there. And as long as it had taken, Loki was still certain it was faster than trying to recreate the census data from memory, and certainly more accurate.

From there things moved along quickly as Loki picked out brands and styles for clothing, additional bedding, bathing products and more, and Stark's AI did the calculations to order just what all would be required. The whole thing was going smoothly, and it was actually quite easy working with Stark as they went through it all. Loki never trusted anything that was too easy.

“How long will all this take to get here?” he asked and looked to Stark. “And more importantly, how much will it cost?”

"Some of it, like the bedding and other things warehoused in the tristate area, as early as tomorrow afternoon. Other things might take a few days. Food'll be fine, the canteen is used to handling up to 600 employees in a day. Feeding everyone will drop the spare resources for a few days, but not so fast that they can't be replaced before they're used up.

"As for the cost," Stark turned in his chair to face Loki, leaning back as he studied him, and spinning the stylus between his fingers, "what we're ordering today, nothing. Like I said, it's getting charged to the budget set aside for humanitarian aid, it'll be a tax write-off. The accountants love those."

Loki was immediately suspicious at that. He knew that Thor had helped Earth on several occasions, helping defend against several attacks and invasions. He knew that his people hadn’t harmed Earth, but it was still a lot to get for free. There had to be a catch.

“Nothing is ever free,” he said, watching Stark closely.

Stark quirked an eyebrow, like what Loki had said was vaguely insulting. "Well if you want to look at it that way, and don't think I can provide for the basic necessities of a bunch of people that have been through a hell of an awful time, from the goodness of my heart and deep pockets, you can consider it a down-payment on the good will of people with ten times the strength and over a hundred times the longevity, of the average human."

Loki watched him a moment longer before sitting back a bit in his chair. It seemed that Stark was telling the truth on this point. “I apologise. It has been my experience that when someone hands you something for ‘free’, they often expect payment down the line. Be that money, a favor, some service, or sex. There is usually a price down the line. But if you say this is a gift, then I accept it as such.”

"I'm not saying everything after this will come without a cost. That'll probably be part of what Thor and the rest have to hash out, and certainly if you are given a patch of land somewhere to start up a community, that's going to cost money. There'll be plenty of people willing to pay for knowledge and technology that your people can provide." Stark gestured out his window towards the ship landed on the lawn. "I can think of more than a few companies and countries that would love to get their hands on your ship or other advances, to learn and reverse engineer."

Stark gave him a grin, and now Loki felt he was back on more familiar territory. "I'd be lying if I said my company wasn't one of the ones on that list."

“Hmm.” Loki watched him for a few moments again, he would need to mention to Thor that Stark had interest in the ship. “That ship is a basic cargo ship. It’s the one inside it that I think you’d find more interesting. Smaller and faster, very manoeuvrable. I would need to talk to Thor about it.”

He had other things to bargain with as well. The Tesseract was safely tucked away, he didn’t want the damn thing himself, but it was something to keep in reserve right now. Then there was the casket as well. That he had kept to study its workings.

There were those among the Aesir that had knowledge of the medical machines and medical advances that humans could only dream of. He supposed they had more to bargain with than he thought. It would also be a powerful way to ensure they got what they needed. If the Americans wouldn’t bargain or help them, there were plenty of other countries that would.

He could work with that.

“Did we have anything else to discuss right now? I would rather like to see the room I will be in so that I can bathe.” He couldn’t help the involuntary wrinkling of his nose. He was clean enough, but he wanted to be clean. A bath or a shower. It sounded wonderful.

"Hmm, well..." Stark was looking at him with a thoughtful gaze, "I know it's early days for the bigger negotiations, but if you want to start acquiring yourself some of those extra luxuries Thor mentioned you liked, there was something I wanted to discuss specifically with you."

Now that was interesting. There were some things he would love to get his hands on. He would like to get hold of some books, writing materials, mead, some electronics. He’d had a laptop from his first stay on Earth, but it was old at this point, basically a brick. He also wanted a phone, unfettered access to the human’s internet would be extremely useful.

“There are some things I would like,” he said. “What is your proposition?”

"Your magic, Thor claims it's 'advanced science', but I've seen multiple things that defy the laws of physics as we know them. I want to understand how it works."

Loki raised an eyebrow at that. He wasn’t entirely sure he could explain it to him. Magic was a force, like breathing to those who use it. “I’m not sure that I can explain it to you,” he said. “And that is not a comment on you or your species, more that it’s as natural as breathing to me. I can explain how it feels, where the power comes from, but I cannot draw you a diagram.”

"What about performing different types of spells and letting me take readings? It must be some sort of energy; I might be able to work back from there to understand how it interacts with the rest of the universe."

“I suppose I can do that,” he said thoughtfully. It wouldn’t be too much of a hardship, but he needed to know what he would get in return. “I am particularly good at shapeshifting and illusions. And ice,” he added the last one a little grudgingly. He had only figured that one out over the past few years.

"Sounds like a good variety to work with. So, I get your time, and in exchange..." Stark quirked a brow questioningly, "I don't know what the going rate for a magic specialist would be."

“Usually an even share in whatever the prize was at the end of the adventure. Money, food, mead, bed partners.” Loki grinned at that, he’d had many satisfying nights at the end of doing battle. “I am a Prince, it’s not like I had to work for a living.”

"Well I don't know what material results this will get at the end. For all I know right now, I could spend three weeks at it and still end up with readings that are a bunch of gibberish... FRIDAY, what's the average hourly rate for one of our R&D IT specialists?"

"For the ones stationed within the continental United States, the average hourly rate is $37.55, boss."

Loki wasn’t quite sure what that would equate to, but he was quite sure he was worth more than that. “Oh, I think you should double that amount,” Loki said. “I have a bit more experience.”

"As an IT specialist, I highly doubt it, but you do have a unique skill set... $50 an hour. You could quickly earn money for your luxuries at that rate, even if I only get your help for a few hours a day."

“I do have some very unique skills. I also have some items you could scan for magical properties. $65 an hour.”

"What kind of items?" Good, he'd piqued Stark's interest further. He considered which to go with, the Tesseract or the casket, or some of his enchanted knives. So many things that he could show, but he knew the one that would really catch his attention was the Tesseract.

“Hm, that would be telling. I would of course want your word that you will not tell anyone the items I have. I do not want everyone knowing my secrets.”

"That makes using the results of studying them potentially quite difficult, if they're results I need to provide provenance for."

“Mostly I just don’t want you to tell anyone right now,” Loki clarified. He didn’t want to deal with the repercussions of some of the things he had on his person. “Once my people have a home, I will let you write what you wish.”

"A timed confidentiality clause, that I can work with."

“Excellent,” Loki said. “Now... I would like to go bathe, and while I do so you can have a contract written up.”

Stark chuckled at that. "Fair enough. FRIDAY, be a dear and direct our guest to his room."

"Of course, Boss." The door to the office opened itself, "This way, Prince Loki."

Loki got up and he nodded to Stark. “A pleasure doing business with you,” he walked towards the door to find his room with FRIDAY’s help. The meeting with Stark had been quite productive and he looked forward to working with him.

And to earning some money to buy the things he wanted.

Chapter Text

Tony made it over halfway through dinner and to the end of Bruce's telling of what had happened to him the last two years before he said, "So is Loki sane now? Because he seemed a lot saner now." He gave himself points for impulse control, because he'd wanted to ask it since Bruce had arrived in his suite for dinner, and had nearly blurted it out when Bruce got to the part about how he'd worked with them on Sakaar.

Bruce looked thoughtful for a moment before he replied. “Well... I don’t think he’s insane. In fact, I don’t think he was actually insane when he attacked Earth.”

"You're the one that called him a bag of cats," Tony couldn't resist pointing out. "And he seems much less... 'I'm about to cut a bitch' homicidal."

Bruce was quiet for a moment before he shook his head. “He’s still the same guy, he’s just less angry. I mean he’s selfish, self-centred, and has some serious daddy issues, but...” Bruce shrugged a bit. “I don’t know Tony, he was good company, and you should see him with his people. Especially the kids, the kids love him. They particularly love when he runs around with them as a tiger. They love that. Hulk kind of loved it too. It’s a cat he can pet without crushing.”

"A tiger..." Tony mused thoughtfully, wondering what other forms Loki could turn into, "he did mention shapeshifting, but I was just expecting variations in a still humanoid appearance."

“Oh no, I saw him be a tiger, a rabbit, a hawk, and a snake. And that was just what I saw. He spent a lot of time with the Aesir on the ship. He’s flawed, he has his issues, but I think he’s getting through them, and he genuinely seems to love the way he’s being treated by the Aesir these days. I don’t think he’d trade it for anything.”

"Those creatures all have a very different amount of mass..." Bruce had spent a few months in close quarters with the guy, given how much Loki's first impression put him off, the time must have made quite the impression of its own. "How is it he's being treated by them now that's different from before we met him the first time?"

“Well... he told me that he had been a pariah with the general population. Magic users on Asgard are... well... typically they’re women. And if they’re male, they’re not to be trusted. His mother was the one who taught him to use magic.” Bruce looked sad as he talked. “He said his biggest regret is being stuck in a cell while his mother was murdered.”

"Oh..." There were a whole lot of layers of trauma there, and plenty of fodder for bitterness. That was... uncomfortably familiar.

“Tony... he’s got his problems. But he’s got like... a thousand years of baggage. I haven’t forgotten what he did... but... you know... I can’t blame it all on him. Not after finding out that his dad and his sister rode across worlds and forcefully took them over.” Bruce shrugged a bit. “It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. I lay a fair bit of the blame at his father’s feet. And he’s dead, which Loki would say is ‘convenient’.”

"You seem like you rather like him these days."

“I do. He’s quite charming and really good to be around, especially when he’s alone. When he has an audience, he can be insufferable. But... well he and I shared a room. He asked me if I wanted to share with him here as well, so that we can give an extra room to some of the other refugees.”

"I take it you said yes?" Self-sacrifice seemed like a Bruce sort of thing to do.

“Of course I did,” Bruce said. “Tony, the people on that ship don’t deserve what’s happened to them. And Loki just looks broken hearted every time he contemplates their situation. He’s the one that made the destruction of Asgard possible. He was ordered, but it was still him that did it. I can’t imagine what he or Thor feels like, with knowing they were the ones that ordered the destruction of their own world.”

And that destruction was for the purpose of saving all the other realms... Tony picked at what was left of his food for a few moments, not certain what to actually say to that. Eventually he went with, "Well, I suppose then it wasn't that reckless to hire him as a contractor to run experiments on magic in my lab."

“You - you hired him?” Bruce stared at Tony and rubbed his forehead. “You remember what happened the last time we played with forces we don’t properly understand right?”

"You're the one that just spent time telling me what a nice guy he is at heart!"

“I said he’s a nice guy, but I didn’t say I understand him or his magic,” Bruce defended. “Tony, we don’t know enough to play with that stuff, not yet. Or...” he trailed off and frowned now. “Is that why you asked him for help? So you can understand?”

"Exactly!" Yeah, he was a fuck up, especially with the Ultron thing. He knew that, but did even Bruce have to assume he hadn't learned his lessons? Was he really such a mess that everyone, even his friends, should assume his best intentions were just the next road paved to hell? "He's not the only mage out there, Thor's talked about others with magic, sounds like his sister had plenty of it. How can we protect ourselves if we don't even know how to identify it? I'm not trying to learn how to perform magic, I'm trying to learn how it works, how to identify and track it. And from the way Thor, and now you, talks, Loki knows his stuff."

“He does,” Bruce said. “At least as far as I can tell. He has some books, I don’t know where he keeps them, but I’ve seen him with big tomes full of writing I don’t recognise.”

"Well then, I think I made a perfectly sensible arrangement then, in as far as magic can be sensible. Vision's definitely some sort of magic/technology hybrid, but he doesn't know how to articulate any of it, and it's limited to a specific skill set. I've got data from things he and I have recorded and analysed about his abilities, but it's a bit like trying to explain physics without having a grasp of the Newtonian principles. There's just too many... gaps," Tony finished, helplessly and more than a bit disgruntled at his inability to put the pieces he currently had together into a complete picture.

“Well, I hope Loki can help you. I’m sure he’ll probably have fun showing off. He likes the attention.”

"Do you want to work on the project as well, or... well, I suppose you have a lot to catch up on." Tony tried not to come off as over eager to have Bruce back in the lab with him, but he didn't really think he'd managed it. It was just, he hadn't had anyone in the lab that could keep up with him since Bruce had left. Peter had promise, but as bright of a kid as he was, he was still a kid. Give it a decade and he might be giving Tony a run for his money, but for now... He'd never admit it, but it was lonely at times.

Bruce smiled a bit. “Maybe in a few days. I do have a lot to catch up with, and honestly, Loki’s better one on one. He’s a pain in the ass at times with an audience.”

"Easily distracted?"

“Yeah. He is also more prone to hyperbole when he has an audience. Thor said he’s always been like that. He thinks it comes from always being the ‘other prince’ when they were kids, so he’d put on a show to get attention. He’s pretty easy company when he’s alone. He’s good at chess as well... we played chess with the kids on the ship and some of the parents. He drew out a checkerboard on the floor and assigned everyone a piece. It was hilarious. Passed a good afternoon.”

"Sounds like the guy you've spent the last few months with is more like the 'God of Mischief' Thor said he used to be."

“He was,” Bruce said with a fond smile. “He had the kids all playing pranks on the adults. Made them impromptu drum kits. Got some of the adults together to put on a show. Thor said he wasn’t surprised about that, his writing was... well... inventive?”

"Dare I even ask?"

They spent the remainder of the meal talking about the ridiculous shows and other forms of entertainment Loki had concocted to keep the children entertained on the long journey to Earth. It was almost hard to reconcile with the arrogant, over the top, misogynistic villain that had tried to take over Earth, except... The man that invaded Earth seemed an awful lot like some of the characters Bruce described Loki having concocted for their plays, and Tony was well familiar with the practice of putting on a mask that gave people what they were expecting.

He was starting to wonder how much of anything about Loki was real, and how much was a show.

Loki lay panting with children all around him. The blades of grass tickled his nose, much more scented in his current form than they ever were in his usual bipedal form. He closed his eyes as fingers ran over his fur. There was just something so satisfying being in a feline form.

“His fur is so soft,” one of the children said, scratching under his chin. Being in one of his animal forms always made the children more relaxed, and happy to talk in his presence. Especially Ádís, whom he had taken under his wing.

She was a quiet child, having lost both of her parents to Hela's destruction seemed to have rendered her nearly mute, but she still managed to find her way onto the ship. Loki had made sure she was looked after, even though she wouldn’t speak. Ádís sat at his head, scratching his ears, quietly watching the other children as they spoke.

Someone started a game of tag, and the child scratching his chin abandoned their post to join the others in their laughing game. Ádís took the opportunity to lean in against his side, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders and neck. "Logi," she whispered and pressed her face into his fur. He'd thought at first she was just mispronouncing his name, but then he'd noticed she only used it when he was in this form, with his fur as bright as the fire the name invoked.

Tekla, her mother, had been a mage a few decades younger than him. Of low social standing, she'd still managed to garner lessons with Frigga because of her talent. He sensed in Ádís the spark of a mage as well, but it was clouded beneath her sadness. He'd had occasion to wonder if 'Logi' had been the name of a familiar or illusion Tekla had been using to nurture her daughter's spark. For it was this form Ádís was most enamoured of.

Loki nuzzled Ádís fondly, making a soft ‘murf’ as she petted him. He so enjoyed these moments, being quiet with her and the other children when they were so inclined. He loved that they didn’t judge him and that they hung on his every word when he spoke.

He also quite enjoyed the sunshine in this part of Earth. The heat of the sun was so relaxing as it warmed his fur. He closed his eyes as Ádís petted him, scratching just behind his ear. It was a pleasant change to being on the ship.

"Ah, so you're the 'giant nearly-sabretooth-tiger' my security team is freaking out about."

Ádís stiffened up against him as Stark's voice pulled them out of their own little world they'd fallen into, neither of them having heard him walk up over the shouts of the other children.

Loki nuzzled Ádís, his giant paw coming to settle on her leg to calm her as he looked up at Stark, his eyes vivid green. He couldn’t speak in this form so he merely watched, curious about how Tony would react to him in this form.

Stark grinned amusedly. "I'll be sure to tell them they're scared of a children's pet."

Loki growled at him, but not loud enough to startle Ádís. It didn't quite have the intended effect, though, as Stark laughed. "Okay, so you could still tear their throats out, but it'd hardly be in your best interest."

Loki got up, stretching out, enjoying the way his muscles pulled and flexed. There was just something so satisfying stretching in a feline form. He nudged Ádís, encouraging her to go see the other children. When she hesitated, he nudged her again towards the children playing and waited for her to walk off, before he began to circle Stark. He scented the air around him, rubbing up against his legs.

"You going to change back so you can actually talk, or just circle me like an incredibly overgrown housecat?"

Loki huffed at him and moved to climb up the tree nearby. He turned back into his normal form once he was settled in the branches of the tree. “Your security needs to relax.”

"I think that may go against their oath, or whatever initiation it is Happy puts them through to become junior security obsessives."

“It’s not like I was doing anything interesting,” he looked down at Tony. “The children and I were keeping to ourselves.”

"They said you were 'hunting' the children," Stark looked over the children, including Ádís now, playing tag. "I'm going with you were 'it'?"

Loki smiled. “I was. The game is that they need to work together to grab my tail. It’s good for teaching them teamwork and strategy.”

"Huh, I suppose I can see that. So, how'd a prince end up on babysitting duty?"

Loki frowned at that. He enjoyed being with the children. He enjoyed teaching them and was happy to take his turn being their tutor. “It’s not ‘babysitting’. It’s my turn to be their tutor, but they’ve been cooped up so long it’s cruel to try and make them sit in a class. Mathematics is so boring when you haven’t been outside in months.”

Tony turned to watch the kids running around... "I suppose that's true." There was something pinched about his expression as he watched the children, not like he disliked them, but rather that they reminded him of something painful.

“I will turn their minds to something more academic once they’ve run off some of their energy.” He watched the children for a moment longer, ensuring they were playing nicely before turning his attention back to Tony. He wondered at the pinched expression, but he hadn’t known the man long enough to pry yet. “So, have you come to tell me to stop being a tiger? Because I cannot say that I will listen to that request.”

"Hmm? Oh, no," Tony looked back up at him. "Mostly I just came to confirm it was you, since Bruce has mentioned you favoured that form, to get away from the security panicking, and the mountain of overdue paperwork Pepper is having FRIDAY pester me for. Also, to ask when you think you'll be available to begin our business arrangement."

“Well it’s not like I have a full schedule right now,” he said. “I take one day a week to tutor the children. Other than that, I am at your disposal.”

"Tomorrow after lunch?"

That sounded quite acceptable. It meant he could have a leisurely morning tomorrow, before earning some money. Money was how you got influence on Earth, that much he had learned in his time visiting over the centuries. “Where will I meet you? In your lab?”

"Yeah, I'll tell FRIDAY to give you access when I'm in there. Just show up when you're ready. I've got to head back down to New York in a few days, and I wanted to get started on this before I left."

“I see. Is there anything in particular you wish to see tomorrow? Just so I know if I need to prepare something?”

"Well, all the baselines I have at this point are from Vis either hovering, phasing through other matter, or creating a laser with that stone of his, not that he actually knows how he does any of that. So, if you can do any of that, or anything similar, it'd be interesting to see how the readings compare. And if you can't," Stark shrugged, "let's start simple and work our way up."

“I will see you tomorrow then.”

They had a plan now, which was good, but for today Loki had other responsibilities. He looked over as the children played and grinned. Turning himself into a black leopard this time, he turned away from Stark and pounced after the children. They ran laughing away from him, tumbling around.

Peripherally he noticed Stark watched them for a while, before he headed back toward his building.

It was unlikely either Tony or Loki had anticipated how much they'd enjoy the time spent in the lab together.

Loki had thought it was just going to be an easy, if tedious, way to earn the funds he required. Do some tricks, let Stark run his scans, be bored out of his mind, get paid his money. Except Stark asked thoughtful questions, and really contemplated how the answers related to the data he was analysing. He even put together some of the data to reach conclusions that, while Loki himself was already aware of them, he hadn't laid them out obviously for Stark. The mortal was grasping more than he'd expected him to, more than Bruce had even... but then again, Stark seemed more interested in learning the whys, and not just what Loki's magic could do for them.

Tony, for his part, hadn't expected Loki to be such good company, or so willing to answer his questions. With each question that showed Tony was actually grasping something about the magic that Loki hadn't expected him to, Loki's answers became more in depth and enthusiastic. He could see the teacher in Loki, and combined with how he'd seen Loki behave on the lawn on their third day on Earth, Tony began to understand how it had come to be that Loki was one of their tutors.

But there was no-one more surprised than Bruce Banner, though in retrospect he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised.

"Doctor Banner," FRIDAY's polite voice drew him out of the book he was reading. Ádís was asleep on the couch in the other room of the suite, and the AI's voice was thankfully pitched quiet enough not to wake her. "I apologise for interrupting your evening, but I could use your assistance."

Bruce frowned, setting a bookmark in his book. “What’s wrong FRIDAY?” As far as he could recall she had been modelled the same as Jarvis. She left everyone alone unless a question was asked of her, or Tony needed an intervention.

And since he hadn’t asked a question, that could only mean one thing.

"I have placed an order for pizza for the boss and Prince Loki, since they have ignored all of my attempts to convince them to leave the lab for food. With Miss Potts out of the country and Colonel Rhodes away to report to the UN, you are the only one in the compound - not currently within the laboratory - that has the access to collect the pizzas and bring them into the lab."

Bruce didn’t know what to say to that. He frowned a bit and looked at the clock on the bedside table. “FRIDAY... when did they go into the lab?”

"Just after 9 this morning. They have missed both lunch and dinner," she stated with clear disapproval in her voice. "If the boss and Miss Potts were still engaged, she would not be pleased, but since they aren't..." FRIDAY sighed, "I have yet to find some else who's good sense the boss will listen to, because he doesn't listen to mine."

Bruce didn’t know the whole story behind what happened between Tony and Pepper. He knew Tony was still dealing with what had happened, so he hadn’t felt he could pry much about it. “I can get the pizza...” Bruce said with a sigh, setting his book down. “Can you keep an eye on Ádís, and if she gets up or cries ask Val to come tend to her?”

With FRIDAY's agreement, Bruce got up and left his and Loki’s rooms, wondering how he had ended up with two of them. It was bad enough keeping track of Tony and then Loki. But both of them together? They were supposed to be too alike to get along, and Tony held grudges. Being thrown out a window of a skyscraper deserved a grudge, didn't it? And yet, somehow, the pair had been cooped up in the lab together for over 12 hours.

If he thought The Hulk would fit in the corridors, he’d make him deal with it.

When he got to the lab with the pizzas, neither of them noticed his arrival right away. Loki was standing, leaning over Tony's shoulder to look at the readouts, as they debated what they were seeing and how it compared to Aesir readouts of the same sort. It wasn't until he opened one of the boxes to let the scent of freshly cooked pizza out, and he cleared his throat loudly, that the pair started slightly and turned to look at them.

"Oh, hey Bruce, you brought pizza! Excellent, I was starting to get hungry," Tony gave him a grin.

“Gee, I wonder why,” Bruce said, setting the boxes out. “And don’t worry Loki, I put Ádís to bed with a story.”

Loki paused at that and turned to look at the clock. “Oh...”

Tony followed his gaze and frowned. "FRIDAY, why didn't you warn us it was so late?"

"I tried, boss, repeatedly," FRIDAY said long-sufferingly. "But since you both preferred to ignore me, I opted to feed you instead. I ordered a selection of toppings, as I was uncertain what Prince Loki would prefer."

“Whatever you ordered smells very good,” Loki said as he walked towards the boxes. “Oooh, is that pepperoni?”

“You know what pepperoni is?” Bruce asked.

“Oh yes,” he said. “It’s quite similar to salami, but has a unique flavour. It goes quite well on pizza.” He picked up a large slice and began to eat. Bruce wondered if he wanted to know how Loki knew what pepperoni or salami was. He supposed they must have had something similar on Asgard and the translation was just being oddly specific?

"Wait, pepperoni is only about a century old," Tony paused in picking up a slice of veggie supreme to point an accusing finger at Loki. "You implied the last time you'd been here before recent events was in Shakespeare's time. So, was that an implied lie, or did you make a stop for pizza while you were half-assedly trying to take over the world?"

Loki frowned at that. “Wasn’t that about the same time? Honestly, I lose track of you humans and your short lifespans.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I had not long mourned my fourth wife - oh no, my third husband - when I went to New York for a while. It is hard to keep track.”

"You... You've been marrying humans?" Tony clearly didn't know what to do with that information, not that Bruce was sure what to do with it either.

“Is that so hard to believe?” Loki asked as he picked up his second piece of pizza. “But do not tell my brother, he would have a conniption if he knew I married and had children with humans. Father was quite firmly against fraternising with the mortals. I believe he called Jane Foster a goat once... not fond of humans, my father.”

"I..." Tony closed his mouth, and for a moment Bruce enjoyed the rare sight of a speechless Tony Stark. "I suppose it's less surprising now than it would have been a week ago, but as you're already so fond of pointing out, we live much shorter lives than you. That seems like a clear detriment to a marriage." Tony grimaced at that, "Not that I have any experience in that department."

“Quality over quantity,” Loki said. “I had many very fulfilling relationships here on Earth. They were over sooner than I would have liked, but as is the way with all good things.” He picked out a piece of chicken pizza. “I fathered and birthed many children in those lives. I was here and gone back to Asgard, a whole life behind me before anyone on Asgard ever missed me. It was a nice break.” He sighed, “The last time I returned, Thor’s coronation was being planned. I suspect mother knew where I went and what I was doing, but she was just happy to see me content.”

“So... you had kids? Like plural?” Not that Bruce was surprised he’d had a kid or two, but with that many marriages... “And - when did you have these husbands? It’s - well - a legal minefield historically, being anything but straight.”

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Loki said, again waving his hand dismissively. “I was female - I did say I birthed children.”

"...I knew your shape shifting put your whole body into that new shape, the tiger's xrays and the like proved it, but I didn't think it went down to a cellular compatibility level," Tony looked thoughtfully between Loki and back to the workstation with the readings they'd been going over.

“Well... there is a particular quirk to my biology, but most of the people of the Nine Realms are compatible. I doubt it is something that would show up on your scans unless you do a full internal imaging scan, or a full genetic analysis,” Loki smiled. “But that is not part of the arrangement we have, though it is up for negotiation.”

"Oh now you've got me even more curious. Also, if you were having half-human and half-jotun children, how do we not have people with ice abilities wandering around Earth? Or were you fully shape shifted as a human, and does that mean you somehow provided human genetics to said children? And-"

"Boss," FRIDAY cut him off forcefully, "you really should eat, and allow Prince Loki to do so as well."

Tony took a large bite of his pizza slice and looked at Loki expectantly for an answer.

Loki took another bite of pizza, looking at him thoughtfully. “We will negotiate when you return. Until then my lips, and my genetic data, are sealed.”

"FRIDAY..."

"You have already rescheduled three of these meetings, boss, I don't think the board or Miss Potts would appreciate you rescheduling them again. Also, you promised Mr. Parker you would look over his science project."

"Oh, Peter, right," Tony got a slightly guilty look on his face. "Of course, no rescheduling. Guess our renegotiations will have to wait until I get back, Merlin."

Loki rolled his eyes. “Hardly,” he said. “I do not have the white hair or beard associated with him. Also, he was human and had very poor vision. I had to do everything for him.”

Both Tony and Bruce looked at him taken aback for a moment. And then Bruce remembered Loki was an epic troll... though he tended to put in just enough truth you couldn't quite be certain what was true and what was a lie.

“Really? You knew Merlin?”

“Well, his name wasn’t actually Merlin. But he is where the legend came from. Dottery old fool, but he had some brilliant ideas. I mean, that whole business with Excalibur. ‘Let us give the sword to the Lady in the Lake’.” Loki sighed. “Never saw the sword again.”

"Now you're just making shit up," Tony accused.

“Am I?” Loki asked him sweetly, before putting on a very condescending voice. “Yes of course, how silly of me. It’s not like magical weapons exist. It’s not like you can have a hammer that lets you fly-” he flicked his wrist and threw a dagger at the far wall, and the dagger then reappeared in his hand. “-Or a dagger that appears in your hand after you have thrown it. Ridiculous.”

"Not the sword, the Lady in the Lake, that's got to be some sort of exaggeration."

“Gaia is a strange woman, I generally try to keep away from her if I can help it.”

"Gaia, as in the Ancient Greek personification of Earth." Tony looked at him dubiously, and Bruce had to suppress a laugh, this felt familiar.

Loki raised an eyebrow at Tony. “You could ask Thor. He’s met her.”

Bruce shook his head, there was no way they’d get a straight answer unless they could ask Thor before Loki told him to agree to his story. Thor liked pranks as much as Loki, he just never seemed to be the one to initiate them. He just liked to go along with Loki’s now that he wasn’t on the receiving end as much.

"Is she another alien 'god'?" Tony didn't have to make the air quotes with his fingers, you could hear them plenty with just his voice, as he gestured generally with his slice of pizza.

“I have no idea what her origins are, but she is deeply connected to the planet. I think father had some books about her but, alas, they have all been blown up with Asgard.” He smiled at Tony. “I suppose I could take you to meet her, if you like. But only if you have reason to see her, or a gift to give. She doesn’t like being bothered if there isn’t a gift.”

Tony looked from Loki to Bruce, like he wasn't sure if he should call 'bullshit' or not.

Bruce shrugged a bit. “I have no idea, Tony. A few years ago, we didn’t think aliens even existed, now we know different, and who’s to say he’s wrong?”

“Who indeed?” Loki said with a grin.

"You, sir," Tony brandished his pizza crust at him, "are a troll."

Loki frowned. “I do not live under a bridge.”

“You know fine what a troll is,” Bruce said and Loki laughed. “I called you one often enough.”

“Well - you didn’t need to give it away,” Loki said with a slight pout.

“That look works with Thor, not me and not the Big Guy.”

Loki sighed. “I swear I think The Hulk likes me better than you do. You know, he calls me his ‘little ragdoll prince’. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that still.”

This time it was Bruce who laughed and he shook his head. “He gives nicknames to people he likes. You should feel honoured.”

“Hmm...” Loki said. “I suppose I can forgive him for remodelling Stark’s living room with my person.” He looked to Tony now. “If Tony can tolerate me after I threw him out of a window, I imagine it would be hypocritical of me to hold a grudge.”

"Ooo, I got a first name," Tony grinned, "that's the first time he's said it, Brucie. I was starting to think magic fingers here forgot I had one."

Loki rolled his eyes. “Don’t get too excited. I call my brother by his first name all of the time, and I have stabbed him on numerous occasions.”

"Well if throwing me through windows becomes more than one occasion, I'm revoking your lab privileges, just saying."

“Even if it’s from the ground floor?” Loki enquired. “Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t use thicker glass in that abomination of a skyscraper.”

"That glass was perfectly suitable for normal use. You know, things like leaning against it, bumping furniture into it, me being fucked against it," Tony waved his hand as though these were all perfectly sensible things to be worried about with the glass in a skyscraper, "not being flung at high speed by a superhuman alien 'god'. I'll have you know most of my back was black and purple by the next day, not that all of it was from the glass, but that certainly didn't help."

“Well yes, I rather had a problem with my back myself,” Loki said, glancing at Bruce. “So, I have no sympathy. At least you got to go have shwarma. I got to go back to Asgard in chains.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Bruce asked him.

“Thanos, obviously,” Loki said. “But enough about that for one evening,” he picked up a few more slices of pizza. “I am going to eat this, and then shower and go to bed.”

"You want FRIDAY to email you the results when she's finished processing the analysis, or wait until I'm back next week?"

“I’d like to have them emailed to me. I’d like to look them over while you’re gone.”

"Sure, got that Fri?"

"Of course, boss."

“Excellent.” Loki grabbed yet another slice of pizza as he walked towards the door. “See you in a few days, Stark.”

As Loki left the room and the door closed behind him, Bruce turned his attention to Tony. “He. Threw. You. Out. Of. A. Skyscraper.” He wondered vaguely if Tony had forgotten that it had been a skyscraper he’d been thrown out of and survived only because of his dumb luck.

"Well..." Tony smiled wryly. "He's certainly not the first one who's wanted to, and given what I've learned this week, from his point of view I deserved it."

Bruce sighed. He had been getting on well with Loki while they travelled to Earth. “Why do you think you deserved it? He was sort of half trying to take over the world.”

"I didn't say I deserved it, just that from his point of view I did. I, uh, well you know how I said there was some verbal sparring while I stalled him for time?"

“You did,” Bruce said. “Tony, what did you say to him?”

"I made a dick joke... implying he was impotent. Okay, maybe more than just implying..."

Bruce gaped. “Tony - that’s - that is the exact wrong thing to say to the God of Mischief. I’m surprised he didn’t just stab you and be done with it.”

"Yes, Bruce, I get that now. I spent our first afternoon together with him turning prickly as a hedgehog every time he thought I was implying something negative about his masculinity in relation to magic. It was halfway through yesterday before he started actually believing I think this stuff is amazing and fascinating, and that I appreciate his skill. So clearly there's some sort of misogynistic Aesir hang-up there he's dealing, with and I don't yet know him well enough to be privilege to the details of that." Tony finally paused to take a breath.

"So yeah, I know that now, but I didn't know that then. I think the main reason he didn't run me through at the time was that he'd been thrown off guard by his brain whammy not working on me when he hit the arc with the sceptre."

Bruce blinked a few times before he sighed. “Yeah... so on Asgard it’s the women who do magic, not the men. And I’ve noticed that men tend to call magic ‘tricks’. Most of the women appreciate Loki’s talents, most of the men are suspicious. I think Loki is the last proper mage they have... Which they’re all finding a bit weird since he’s a guy.”

Tony actually paused to take that in and consider it against what he'd seen so far, eventually he nodded. "Yeah, that fits with the suspicious hedgehog schtick."

“Yeah... so you’re going to be away for a few days? Meetings, I guess? Is it to do with what’s happened here or other stuff?”

"Both. Pep's back from her conference in Germany, so there's a board meeting I need to attend with her, and while I'm in New York I figured I might as well get the monthly R&D divisional meeting out of the way." Tony picked up another slice of pizza, chewing with a rather thoughtful look before adding, "Plus Pete's 16th is in a few days, I want to be there to give him his gift in person."

Bruce couldn’t hide his surprise at that. “You’re giving him a gift for his birthday? I... didn’t know you were taking such a direct interest in the kid.”

"Well, his aunt does a good job with him, don't get me wrong. But she's not a scientist, so she doesn't really get all of his projects. His dad was a scientist... I guess I fill a gap for him." Tony's shrug wasn't anywhere as nonchalant as he probably had intended it to be. "And maybe if he learns from someone else's mistakes, he won't make as many of his own. I've certainly made enough of them for more than one person," he finished with a sigh and raked his fingers through his hair.

“You like this kid... I think I’d like to meet him. Not this week, obviously, I’m still trying to get my bearings, being back and being officially listed amongst the Aesir these days.” Bruce gave him a wry smile.

"Yeah, about that, are you revoking your American citizenship? Because if so, I need to get FRIDAY to fill out some paperwork to pay off the ransom to liberate you from the IRS." Tony smiled wryly, taking the out Bruce had given him away from more emotional topics.

“Well, how about we leave it until Asgard has an actual country to call its own?” Bruce said. It wasn’t like Asgard was recognised as an alternate country right now. Not that he was actually earning anything right now.

"Fair enough." Tony sorted through the boxes of pizza, making up one of assorted slices. "You should take the rest of this back with you. Introduce Loki to the joys of cold pizza for breakfast."

“Sounds like a plan,” Bruce said with a smile. “He has me scheduled to talk to the kids tomorrow about different types of radiation, you know. You better watch or he’ll get you as a guest speaker too.”

"Yeah, I'm not good with groups of kids. Not sure how Pete hasn't gone running yet." The joke fell as flat as Tony's smile.

“Tony...” Bruce wasn’t sure what to say. Should he tell him that Loki reminded him very strongly of Tony? Would he take that as a compliment or take offence? He wasn’t sure how he’d take such a comment so he just finished with. “I think you sell yourself short sometimes...”

Tony just shook his head as he picked up his box and headed for the door. "Turn off the lights behind you," he threw over his shoulder as he went out the door, which was entirely pointless since FRIDAY would take care of that herself when he left.

Bruce sighed and picked up the pizza to take to his and Loki’s room.

It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last time, that he would find Tony frustrating. He just hoped that maybe, just maybe, he and Loki could learn from each other.

Chapter Text

Tony tried to tamp down on the frisson of nervousness that went through his gut as he hit send on his text.

Hey kid, didn't want to disturb you and May on your big day. If you're not too hungover from a birthday cake sugar high, come outside, I brought you something.

He pushed the sunglasses back up his nose as he squinted up at the sun peaking over the top of the Queens apartment buildings. Hmm, maybe it was a bit early, he'd noticed the streets were rather quiet as he’d driven over. Glancing back at his phone, the time was 7:08. A bit early for a Sunday morning for a teenager, especially one the day after a birthday, but not outrageously so, and he was already here. He could just wait until Pete woke up and noticed the text.

A few moments passed and a reply came through.

Be there in a sec. Just getting up.

Tony fidgeted as he leaned back against the car. He needed to look casual, but not too casual, wouldn't want Pete to think he was bored about seeing him, but no need to look over eager either. Should he put the top down on the car? No, best to leave it up.

The door of the apartment building opened and Peter walked out and smiled when he saw Tony. “Hi Mr Stark. Aunt May says you can come in, she’s making breakfast.”

"That's nice of her, maybe I will, but I figure I should give you your birthday gift first." Tony gave him a grin to hide how closely he was watching Peter's reaction as he held out the keys to the Acura.

Pete looked at the keys and asked, “Oh - is my gift in the car? You know you didn’t need to get me anything Mr Stark, you do enough for me already. The gadgets and the suit...”

Waving that away, Tony offered him the keys again, "That's nothing, kid, suiting you up doesn't hold a patch on the Avengers or my current houseguests. And your gift is the car. Well, technically it's a lease for a dollar so you don't have to worry about gift tax, insurance and all that, but that's just on paper."

Peter blinked a few times, looking from the car back to Tony and then back to the car. “Wait - but - Oh my god Mr Stark, are you sure? Are you really sure? You’re not kidding, right!?”

Tony laughed at the excitement, the knot in his stomach finally releasing. "I wouldn't kid about a car, squirt. You're 16, getting a used car's a rite of passage and all that. I've even given it a fresh tune-up, but I'll let May keep the joy of teaching you to actually drive the thing."

“Well - yeah but there’s used cars, and then there’s used cars. This - I mean this...” Peter grinned at him. “Aunt May is gonna flip - in a good way though, like this is awesome. I can’t wait to drive it.”

"Get your permit and then you can." Tony tossed him the keys. "Until then, I supposed you can lend it to May."

“Oh man,” Peter said and looked at him. “Mr Stark... thank you. I can’t even...” he laughed and shook his head. “We better go upstairs, Aunt May will be wondering what’s taking so long.”

"Sure, better reassure her she doesn't need to worry about insuring a 16-year-old on this thing," Tony laughed as he followed Peter back into the building.

Peter led him upstairs and into the kitchen, where May was standing at the stove. “Good morning Mr Stark, do you want some bacon and eggs?”

"Mr. Stark was my dad, how many times do I need to say you can call me Tony? And breakfast would be lovely."

May smiled, pulling out another plate as she put toast on to go with their bacon and eggs. “I’ll try to remember. What brings you here? Do you have a meeting in the city and just dropped by?”

“Mr Stark brought me my birthday gift,” Peter said and Tony could see the kid was about to burst.

“Oh?”

“He got me a car - a used car. A really nice used car, and he’s tuned it all up himself so it’s definitely safe, no need to worry there.”

May turned and gave Peter a look. “Peter, you swing around the city on webs you made in your science class. I think I can trust Mr St- sorry - Tony’s judgement on a car.” She began plating the eggs. “So, what kind of car is it?”

“A silver one?” Peter said helpfully.

"Heathen," Tony scolded him with a smile, "by the time I'm done showing you how to take care of it, not only will you know which model of Acura it is, you'll know how to give the whole thing a tune-up yourself."

May paused as she buttered the toast, giving Tony a look. “What kind of Acura?”

"A five-year-old, two-door convertible," Tony said, going for an innocent look.

May gaped at him. “Mr Stark - that’s - I mean...” she glanced at Peter, and then back to Tony and sighed. “We can’t afford to keep a car like that.”

"You don't need to worry about that, it's technically a lease, with insurance included. So, no tax obligations or any of that for you to deal with."

May stared at him for a moment before she gave a soft sigh, turning back to finish putting breakfast together. “How much is the lease?” she asked and Peter grinned.

“A dollar,” Peter said.

“Mr Stark,” May said as she brought the plates over. “Really? A dollar a month? He can afford to pay more than that.”

"A dollar a year, actually. It wouldn't be much of a birthday gift if it was a proper lease. Besides, he's got his licence and 5-hour course to pay for himself."

May gaped at him again. “Mr Stark - that’s...” she glanced at Peter who was giving her the ‘sad eyes’ and she just facepalmed. “I think you live on a different planet.”

"You're not the first person to say that." It was probably an insult, but Tony took it matter-of-factly, because he knew in a figurative sense it was true. "But it's the guests staying up at the Avengers Compound right now that are the real ones from another world."

“Wait - what?” Peter said, looking at Tony now. “Is Thor back? Cool - can I meet him?”

"Thor and quite a few others. He brought a ship full of refugees, mostly from Asgard, but some from a world called Sakaar. There are six or seven different species of alien, depending on if you count Aesir and Vanir as different species or not. I'm not entirely convinced they're not just different groups from the same original race, the way they talk..."

He was going to need to pester Loki about that. As far as he could tell, the only difference between Vanir and Aesir, was the Aesir all looked like they were from northern Europe, and the Vanir looked like they came from the rest of Earth. Plus, both were freakishly strong.

“Refugees?” Peter asked as he began to eat. “What happened?”

"Asgard was destroyed, so Thor and his entourage," probably best not to mention Loki by name right now, "packed up everyone that was left on a ship they got from Sakaar and headed here. Apparently, we're the closest habitable planet by ship."

“That’s awful,” May said with a frown. “How many are there?”

"A little less than 300. Thor said it was only about a tenth of their people, but most of them were killed by a big-bad before they let the planetoid be destroyed to stop her." Also, probably best not to mention she was Thor's sister right now either. He didn't think it'd phase Peter too much, but May would probably disapprove, and that would put a wrench in the other offer he was planning to make this morning.

“That’s awful...” May said.

“Yeah,” Peter said, frowning. “I bet you’re helping them though, aren’t you Mr Stark? I mean - that’s what you do - what we do, right?”

"Yeah, it is, kid," Tony smiled at him a bit. "They're all staying up at the Compound while Thor and the rest negotiate with the UN about whether or not they can stay on Earth and set up a country somewhere."

“Where would they get land to set up a country?” May seemed more than a bit sceptical of that, and Tony couldn’t say she was wrong. “It’s not like we have a lot of unused land, and what we do have, we tend to fight over.”

“I suppose that’s what they’re talking to the UN about, Aunt May. I wish I could help.”

"Well, if they can't work something out within a few months, they'll load back up on their ship and head out to look at other options. But before they do that, the ship needs some upgrading, since it's meant to be a cargo hauler." Tony glanced at May out of the corner of his eye, she didn't seem any more exasperated with him than usual, it was as good a time as any to broach the topic. "Thought you might like to come up to the Compound for a month after school finished. Get yourself dug into the alien tech with me and Bruce. Dr. Banner, that is, he arrived back with Thor and the others."

“Oh my god - really!?”

May looked at Tony levelly. “Mr Stark, Peter was going to get a part time job to help pay towards his driving licence.”

“Oh... yeah I was - am...”

Tony looked at her innocently. "Well he can get paid as a Stark Industries intern, surely that's more relevant to his future engineering degree than bussing tables or bagging groceries."

“No one will hire him if he’s gone for a month of the summer,” May pointed out.

“They might,” Peter said.

"He can have an internship for the whole summer." Tony could see May getting ready to protest and continued on, "Not with me, I know you won't want him away the entire summer, and he's got friends here. There are rotating placements in the R&D department here in the city. He can go in the rotation. Get some time with some... less eccentric developers as well," he gave her a wry smile. He didn't want to upset May, she was Peter's guardian and only family, she had more right to Peter's time than he did. But he was aware enough to admit he selfishly enjoyed the time with Peter, and he genuinely thought the kid would find the tech interesting. Both the spaceship, and what the others were working on in the tower.

May looked at Peter and then Tony. She was clearly torn about the idea, but she sighed, looking at Peter again. “You really want to do this, don’t you?”

“I do,” he said. “Aunt May this is - this is the opportunity of a lifetime. How good will this look on my college applications?”

May laughed. “I suppose... fine, fine, you can go - but I want a call at least every other day.” She looked at Tony now, “And maybe a day or two out there just to see what’s going on.”

"Of course, I'll make arrangements for it. Just let me know when you want to come up together and I'll have it all arranged." Tony couldn't stop the delighted grin from lighting up his face.

“We could drive my new car up there,” Peter suggested.

“Hmm, would be nice to drive it. I don’t think I’ve ever driven such a fancy car.”

"You're already a named driver on the car," Tony assured her, smiling even wider.

“Good to know,” May said with a smile. “I’ll get Pete to text you when we’re going to come up.”

Peter grinned. “Sounds great. Can I bring a friend, or just me?”

"Depends, Happy will probably insist on running a background check on them first."

Peter grinned. “That’d be fine, I don’t know anyone that doesn’t break the law without good reason.”

“Peter,” May said with a sigh. “You’re not breaking the law.”

“I was at the time - kinda - the police don’t like vigilantes - at least not those without money.” Peter shrugged. “It’s fine now though.”

"It's Ned, isn't it? He's the only one not in this room, and not employed by me, who knows about the whole web-slinging thing. Unless you've started making it a habit of telling people who Spidey is?" Tony didn't think Peter would be that foolish, but he was barely 16.

“Nah,” Peter said. “It’s not until next year that I’ve got an assembly scheduled to declare ‘I am Spiderman’. One step at a time Mr Stark.”

Tony resisted the urge to facepalm, because May would no doubt find the tables being turned on him hilarious. Instead he said dryly, "Hold off on the unmasking press conferences until you've made at least your first million, kid."

Peter laughed. “Need to wait until Ned and I are in our fifties then.”

"Eh, I bet you hit it before 40," Tony said with a wave of his hand. The tech sector was always growing, and Peter had the smarts to go places.

May smiled, shaking her head as Peter grinned.

“Thanks Mr Stark,” Peter said.

"No problem, kid," and he meant it.

Loki hadn’t been sure what to do with himself when Stark had gone off for a few days. Yes, he had obligations to the children and helping Thor, but he didn’t have the supplies to do much. At least not at first. On the first day he had begun a plan of lessons for the children, and some of the adults, about the differences between their new home and Asgard. The easiest thing to start with had been the months of the year and the days of the week, along with figuring out when everyone’s date of birth had been for the Earth calendar.

Not having a laptop yet had been causing him a bit of strife.

“FRIDAY, is there a computer I can use?” He had reached the end of his tether trying to use the smart tv and paper to figure out when the months should fall, and birthdays be re-allocated. He needed something a bit faster.

After a moment, FRIDAY replied with, "Doctor Banner says you're welcome to use a console in the second lab he's using."

“Thank the Norns,” Loki said, gathering up his papers. He looked out of the window, sighing at the misting rain that was falling outside. He was going to have to hold his class in the ship tomorrow. Unless... “FRIDAY... are... I’m not sure how much you can help me, but I am looking for a space to use as a classroom tomorrow.”

"What are the requirements for the space? Most rooms suitable to it have been turned into bedrooms, but there are still a number of larger, more communal spaces, that have not been repurposed as such."

“Well, a space that could fit all the children and a few of the adults, with tables and chairs. And a space to use as a whiteboard or chalkboard, and possibly - if there was a function - to have presentations. I need to begin teaching them about the differences between Earth and Asgard.” He paused, not sure how far he could push his luck. “And perhaps notepads and pens so they can take notes?”

"The supplies are easily acquired from the stock of Stark Industry conference materials the Boss has in storage here, just in case."

“Just in case of what?” Loki asked with a frown.

"A superhero conference or summit. The number of heroes seems to grow each year, and given... recent troubles, it doesn't seem impossible that such a thing might be needed in the future."

“Oh... well how much will I need to pay to get those supplies?” Loki asked. He didn’t want to be accused of getting anything extra for free for his people.

"They are amongst the supplies marked 'for the residents of the Avengers compound', and such supplies have not been specified for the Avengers only. Therefore, there is no cost."

“Oh...” Loki made a mental note to check with Tony when he got back. “That’s good to know. You have the census data for the ship. Can you get me a notepad and pens for each of the children? It will be nice to have a classroom to use... rather than just a corner of the cargo hold on the ship. Is there a meeting room with windows?”

"All of the meeting rooms, except the one being used for negotiations, have been turned into bedrooms. There is a training room on the north side of the building, facing the tree line, which might be suitable for your needs, sir." The screen on the wall lit up and a map of the complex appeared on it, with a path being traced out from his room to a large room on the north wall of the building.

“We can talk while I walk, right? I’m never sure how Stark has wired the place,” he said as he began walking towards his door to go find the training room.

"My audio sensors can be activated in any room of the compound. Visual sensors have been excluded from key points of privacy, such as bathing facilities."

“Good to know,” Loki said as he left his room.

The training room that FRIDAY had suggested was perfect. Enough room for all of the children, as well as some of the adults. Enough room to show films on the projector, and enough storage for books and anything else they wanted to keep there.

He spent the second day that Stark was gone getting the room ready and having FRIDAY help him with his calculations in the lab with Bruce. The third day he finalised the lesson plans between himself and the four other teachers, and he took the first day, assisted by Lady Ysolda and Bruce, on explaining how things were going to be different.

“But, Prince Loki,” Einar said, his hand raised. “Why does a new day begin at midnight? It’s - well - it’s just an arbitrary number. It’s not like it actually means anything.”

“Humans like to have everything scheduled equally,” Loki told him. “Twenty-four hours in each day no matter the light levels.”

“Well that’s just stupid,” Dagný said, crossing her arms over her chest. She was one of the older children, and the young ones all looked up to her. He figured she’d be much like Sif as she grew. She had a warrior’s heart. “Days aren’t all the same length.”

"If I might explain, sir?" FRIDAY offered.

“Please do,” Loki said, stepping aside so she could use the projector if she wished.

The wall lit up with pictures to coincide with FRIDAY's explanations, quickly explaining the system's origins with the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks, before skipping forward to more modern times to explain why a system that evenly divides time was so important to humans. She showed the children videos from space of how brightly lit the world was, even at night, and of the airplanes and automobiles running on schedules through the dark.

"So, a system that focuses on when the sun rises and sets, when it changes, doesn't provide the structure required for modern human living."

“Wait, wait, wait,” Skaldi said, he was the oldest of the kids, not far off adulthood, but still figuring things out. He’d be the one that would often come to Loki on the ship, he was the first to be brave enough. “So, are you saying that humans work the same number of hours... all year? What about the winter feasts and the harvest festivals?”

"They have regulated days off which vary by government and predominant cultural tradition. They also have leave time they may schedule, which varies again by region, sometimes by profession or seniority." FRIDAY paused for a moment and then added, "Humanity generally likes schedules and order, and the individuals that don't are either forced by circumstance to make the best of the situation, or find a way of life outside the general societal norms. There are cultures that are less rigid, they tend to be smaller and more focused on direct agriculture or fishing."

“Prince Loki, we aren’t going to be like humans, are we? We’ll still get the harvest and winter festivals, right?” Dagný asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Loki admitted. “I suppose it depends on where our new home is and what we will need to do. There will be change for all of us, I am sure... but we will never forget our traditions, we may need to modify them a little, but their heart will be the same.” If Loki had his way, nothing much would change about their way of life. But it really would depend on exactly where they ended up.

The door at the back of the room opened, and while the children didn't notice, Loki saw Stark enter the room, quietly watching them. It seemed he was back from the city.

“Prince Loki... where are we going to go?” Grelda said with a dramatic air. Loki looked at her, she hadn’t been as unlucky as his little Ádís. She still had her father at least, but the man wasn’t coping well with the destruction of Asgard. A blacksmith and used to his home, used to his wife looking after their accounts and daughter. He had seemed lost on the way to Earth.

“I’m not sure, little one,” Loki said to her. “But home is not a place... it’s your family, your people. We will find a place to settle... here or somewhere else. We will find a new home.” He made sure his voice was determined. Even if he himself was a bit unsure, he didn’t want the children to be. They needed to know they were going to be okay. Part of being a child was the innocent belief that your elders knew better.

They would soon realise it wasn’t true, but for now, it gave them comfort.

Stark watched him bring the children's attention back around to their lesson, and Loki used FRIDAY's previous explanation to move on into a lesson about the major holidays on Earth in its various countries. After watching a while longer, Stark left again, as quietly as he had arrived.

Once he was finished explaining how the calendar and days of the week were going to work, Loki left the class with Ysolda in charge to do arts and crafts. The opportunity to work on some traditional Aesir crafts would no doubt do well to help them remember they took their home with them wherever they went.

He made his way to Stark’s lab. Loki was sure that having been away at meetings in New York, that’s where he’d find the man. The door to the lab opened for Loki and he looked in to see what Stark was doing.

He had a schematic of the exterior of the cargo ship projected up in front of him, and was rotating it as he studied the design. Stark paused and looked over at Loki as he neared. "Hey, didn't mean to disturb your class, I was just curious when FRIDAY said you were holding school."

Loki smiled a bit. “You didn’t disturb us. The children were too distracted with ‘arbitrary numbers’ like midnight and other such things...” He walked to Tony, watching the projection of the cargo ship. “How was New York?”

"Full of meetings, mostly. I got away morning before last to see my... well, I suppose his official title is now intern. Pete and his pal Ned are going to be coming up here the end of next month, after school's done for the summer. I was just contemplating what I want to go over with them."

“I’m sure you’ll have plenty to show them,” Loki said. “Not least the aliens inhabiting your land.” He drummed his fingers on the table. Loki contemplated how much money he wanted, there were so many things he wanted to get his hands on. After seeing the prices of some of the equipment he wanted and how much he was being paid, he felt he was being underpaid. “Also - renegotiating with me will keep you busy for a bit.”

Stark quirked an eyebrow, but he looked amused. "Oh?"

“I feel that you’re underpaying me,” Loki told him. “I have been researching.”

"Researching what, exactly? There isn't exactly a going rate for mages on Earth."

“I have been looking at the things I want and how long it will take me to get them. Especially with the specialist knowledge I have, and the other things we discussed before, such as my genetic information and other things on offer.”

Stark chuckled and leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms with a grin. "Alright, so if I've been underpaying you. What do you think your time is worth then?"

“At least $200 per hour. I mean really, I have so much information and I could advance your species at least a century for a few months’ work.”

"$200 per hour, hmm? What do you think, FRIDAY? That fall within my budget?" He hardly seemed concerned that it wouldn't.

"It is a rather high hourly rate, sir, but will hardly be more expensive than one of your suits."

"Alright Loki, $200 an hour it is, but no more hold-backsies," Stark grinned at him.

Loki was surprised that Stark didn’t haggle, but he wasn’t going to argue. “And I want it retroactively applied to the hours I have already worked.” He wondered just how far he could push.

"Uh uh, you were just giving me the sampler," Stark’s good humour was still there, but he didn't seem inclined to budge, "but how about I throw in a StarkTab? FRIDAY says you were getting irritated with what the bedrooms have to offer."

“What’s a StarkTab?” Loki asked.

Stark put a hand to his chest in faux horror, "What's a StarkTab he asks?" He kicked his chair backwards to roll over to a cabinet with drawers, and pulling one open he retrieved one of his electronic devices. "Only the best consumer tablet currently on the market, or not yet on the market in the case of this model." He twirled his chair back over and held the device out for Loki to inspect.

Loki rolled his eyes, but took the tablet. It was a sleek design, still somewhat primitive to what they’d had on Asgard, but better than most things he’d seen on Earth. “This looks interesting,” he said thoughtfully. “But... if you retroactively pay me the $200 and throw this in, I’ll let you scan this,” Loki flicked his wrist, the Tesseract appearing in his hand.

Now that got Stark's attention as his eyes went wide. "The Tesseract..."

“Indeed,” Loki said with a small smile. “It contains another Infinity Stone, like the one in Vision’s forehead. This is the Space Stone. He has the Mind Stone in his head - I believe that was the stone taken from my sceptre?”

"Yes. So, Infinity Stones... Is that like a set, or a type of magic rock?"

“There are six. I have encountered three. Space, Mind, and Power... Any more information depends on retroactive payment for services rendered.” Loki grinned at him. “Or I could just whisk this back off to where it came from...”

"...The little Bruce on my shoulder is saying 'Walk away, Tony, just walk away'." Except the way Stark was looking at the Tesseract with fascination and a clear desire to perform experiments, said what he wanted to do was the complete opposite.

“Unlike the mind gem, this one is not sentient. But the power held within is nothing short of miraculous. It is a way to travel anywhere in the universe, anywhere at all instantly.” Loki winced involuntarily. “I will not say it is a comfortable ride, but it gets you where you need to go mostly unharmed, if you know what you’re doing.” When he’d arrived on Earth, the journey had exhausted him, which was why he'd needed some support from the SHIELD agents. Had The Other had more finesse, he would have been fine on his own - or maybe just with Barton.

"And you know what you're doing?" Stark's gaze moved up to Loki's face with a quirked brow.

Loki looked at him and gave him a wry smile. “As much as anyone can when playing with the very building blocks of the universe.”

"Ok, that's an interesting turn of phrase. What do you mean by it though?"

“I understand magic and the foundation of energy in the universe... this...” he motioned to the Tesseract, “is one of six principles of the universe. Soul, Reality, Time, Space, Power and Mind. The explosion that caused the spark of our existence created these gems... holding the gems gives you power over that force in the universe...” Loki shuddered slightly, he couldn’t have suppressed it even if he had wanted to. The idea of Thanos having absolute control over everything in the universe made him feel ill.

"You look unsettled by that idea, even though you have one," Stark prompted curiously, drawing Loki back to himself.

“It’s not that...” he said softly. “It’s just... Thanos is trying to collect all six. Then with a snap of his fingers he could get his heart's desire...”

"You mentioned the name 'Thanos' once before, in conjunction with your little trip via Tesseract."

“He was the one who found me when I fell from Asgard. He gave me the resources to heal myself, and as payment demanded the Tesseract... In return I would have my life and the Earth. It was a foolish idea, he had no idea what I would be going up against on Earth. He had no idea how resilient its people are.”

"We are rather stubborn like that." Stark leaned back, eying the Tesseract warily. "So, did he ever find out the cube left Earth, or have any way of knowing it's back here again?"

“Not that I am aware of,” Loki said. “His connection to the Tesseract was through the sceptre, and I succeeded in getting both it and the Tesseract far away from him and his plans to destroy half of all life in the universe.”

"Which means he either thinks it's still here, or thinks you have it... which at this point are both true."

“Yes,” Loki said. “Though I hope the rumours of my death have reached his ears. I had not intended to show myself so soon, but Thor grew a brain these past few years and saw through my ruse when I posed as father.” Loki gave a soft huff. He hated and yet admired that Thor had become so perceptive. “Either way... he will likely come here, Infinity Stones or no. Earth’s population, and the damage wrought on your planet, would be too much for him to pass up.”

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stark asked with a frown, and Loki began to explain about the self-destruction of Thanos' home world, and the mission he'd set himself on since. His goal to unite the Infinity Stones, and use them to destroy half of all sentient life in the universe in order to bring 'balance' and stop further tragedies like the one on Titan. And how, until he obtained the gauntlet, he carried out his quest the long way, one world and one army at a time. As he finished, Stark stared at him agape.

"...That... is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard! And more than a few people will tell you I've said more than my fair share of idiocy over the years." Stark shook his head in near disbelief. "All the power in the universe, the ability to instantly make your desires reality, and his solution is to kill half of everyone? He could just as easily make more worlds habitable, double the available resources so that people could just spread out more. But no, his plan is to make people go 'poof' as though they're a flea infestation he has the right to wipe out."

Loki gave a deep sigh, not quite looking at Tony as he spoke, clearly far away, lost in a memory, quoting the Mad Titan. “Life is a curse - life breeds destruction and pain. You do not feed disease, you curtail it. You do not nurture bacteria, you destroy it. You do not let the forest choke under the weight of too much foliage, you burn it and begin anew.” He looked at Tony now, a sad, pained look in his eyes. “You cannot let life grow unchecked. We give them more resources today, in ten years they will need ever more, in a hundred, ever more, in a millennium there is no more room for anything. Life is a cancer; it will destroy everything if left unchecked.”

"He thinks he has the right to be the scalpel, does he? And people say I'm conceited."

“I in no way agree with the mad fool,” Loki said, looking at Tony now, banishing the Tesseract once more. “I am a selfish creature at heart. I do everything I can to keep my person intact. I am not proud of what I did, I am not proud of what he reduced me to, but I am alive aren’t I?” And to him, that was the most important thing, that and the fact he was quite free, thank you very much.

"You are," Stark conceded, eyes moving back to meet his now that the Tesseract was away. "I didn't agree with SHIELD's reinvestigation of Tesseract weapons, and given the intersection with secret Hydra membership much of their leadership had at the time, I still think that was the right call, but... There are a lot of other applications that could come from better understanding the energy that thing outputs, more than a few that could help protect us if this Thanos comes a calling..."

“I assure you it isn’t ‘if’, but simply ‘when’. It is another very good reason to have me and my people here. We have technology that could help you defend yourselves.” Loki gave him a small amused smile. “So... retroactive pay?”

Stark huffed out a wry laugh. "Alright Prancer, you've made your point. FRIDAY, transfer the funds to this asshole's debit card, will you?"

"As you say, boss." It was hard to tell if the computer approved of the decision, but she wasn't arguing against it at least.

Stark's gaze shifted from the Tesseract back to studying Loki himself, and he wasn't entirely certain what to make of the expression. The man seemed like an open book when first encountered, but Loki was starting to learn he could be as opaque as his artificial assistant at times.

"You know," Stark started tapping his stylus absently against the edge of the desk, "I've been considering something that Rhodey mentioned keeps coming up in the meetings over your people."

“And what is that?” Loki asked.

“Your PR problem. Politics on Earth are all about optics.” Stark quirked a brow at him. “If you’re willing to help protect the Earth, you might need to prove it.”

“My people or me personally? Thor has a duty as the King of Asgard, me? I’d do it because it suits me.”

“You personally. Asgard as a whole isn’t the one with a poor PR history, Thor’s pretty popular with the kids, and the lesbians for some reason,” Stark mused absently, before pinning Loki with his gaze. “You on the other hand, are seen as a villain or, at best, a potential liability.”

Loki shrugged a bit. “I don’t see how my reputation matters much. It’s my brother who is in charge, not me. I am but another Aesir seeking refuge. Pardoned of my crimes I might add.”

Stark laughed raspily at that, there was a bitter edge to it. “You think that matters in anything but the most technical sense? You’ve been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. When the political leaders are considering your people’s plight and how their handling of it will reflect on them at re-election time, that matters more.”

“I don’t see how my reputation should impact Thor and the rest.” Except that he could see. He knew that he was a pariah on Earth. He knew that he was lucky that Dr Strange hadn’t tried to whisk him away again, but this time it wasn’t like it was just him and Thor that had arrived. “Besides which, there isn’t much I can do except help my people find somewhere to settle. I cannot undo the past.”

“Well aren’t you just startlingly naive, or deliberately obtuse. I thought you were supposed to be the brother with the plans?”

Loki smiled faintly. “I suppose I am just wondering what brilliant plan you may have that could fix the problem. My current plan B is to disappear to Alfheim for a few hundred years, until every human who ever knew my name is dead. King Frey still owes me for a great favour I once did him.” Loki grinned at that.

“If Alfheim doesn’t have a problem with you, why make this more than a refuelling stop?”

“Oh, King Frey has no problem with me, but he distrusts all other Aesir as a general rule. He especially hates the throne and anyone who sits on it. Come to find out, it’s because my father and sister brought destruction upon their planet when they took it over. But Frey has always enjoyed my company... as did his wife.”

Stark chuckled at that, “Why do I get the impression the company they enjoyed had less to do with your witty banter?”

“Witty banter was involved,” Loki said with a smile. He had fond memories of his time on Alfheim. The elves were generally wary of the Aesir, but he had always just slotted into their ranks, even with his dark hair. “I spent several years in the King’s court... His library is amazing and... I enjoyed their hospitality while I was there.”

“By which you mean you weren’t second best to tall, blond and bulky when you were there. I can appreciate that in a place.” Stark grimaced as he looked away, spinning the stylus in an agitated manner. “Well, I can’t imagine Thor’ll be pleased with plan B, so we’ll have to work on your image. I don’t want you hopping off planet before I’m done picking that eccentric brain of yours.”

“Well, I’d rather not leave if I had the choice,” Loki said with a smile. “This era of humanity is quite interesting. Almost as fun as the time I spent with Leonardo...”

“Leonardo... da Vinci...”

“That was his name,” Loki said. “Such a brilliant man. Thoughtful, intelligent, attentive and funny. He was beyond his time... A pity that he had so few years to show his talent.” It was men like Leonardo that highlighted the tragedy of the short life span of humans, and yet, their short lives tended to breed more brilliance. It was a strange double-edged sword. Short lives meant quick learning, meant brilliant minds ended too soon.

“I often wonder what he might have accomplished if I had been able to grant him a longer life.”

"What, if you'd been able to heal his strokes?" Stark looked caught between curiosity and disbelief.

“If I had been there at the right time... if I had been able to give him the gift he deserved.” Loki smiled softly, remembering the man he had been so fond of. “He was such a brilliant man... I would have loved to take him to Asgard. Would have loved to see what that bright mind could do with more time.” He came back to himself, realising just how vulnerable he might sound, such affection, such love for a human. “It’s not like it matters, it was hundreds of years ago.”

"...Seems like it matters to you."

Loki looked at Tony, seeing the disbelief bleed away from his expression. There was no mocking, just curiosity and he found that he wanted to tell him, to speak his mind about the man he once knew. “I loved him. I loved his ever-reaching need for knowledge. I loved his laugh. I loved his voice, even though the man couldn’t sing worth a damn he was just so joyful when he did. I loved the intensity he got when he painted. The single-mindedness when he had an idea and I had to remind him that eating was important. I loved lying in bed with him and talking about theories and plans. Watching the world go by out of our window... He shone so brightly... burned out too soon.” Loki looked down at his hands. He hadn’t thought of Leonardo for many years, he wished he could see him once more. His heart broke at how fast human lives went by.

It was why he had tried to warn Thor about Jane, and now that they were no longer together, he couldn’t say he was sad. He doubted Thor would deal well with the heartache.

"That... must have been difficult, to watch him age while you seemingly didn't..."

“To outsiders’ eyes, I aged,” Loki said quietly. The magic hadn’t been all that hard, but what had struck him was when Leonardo saw through it. “But he knew I didn’t age... he... I told him what I was, and he believed me. Do you know how rare it was to have a human believe that back then, and not get fearful that I was some sort of honest to goodness God? He accepted that there may be other worlds out there that creatures like humans live on. That there was more to the universe than Earth. I had to leave as he aged, but I returned now and then... I still miss him.” His biggest regret, truth be told, was that he never convinced Leonardo to have a child with him. That he couldn’t even carry that little piece of him into the next generation.

Tony didn't say anything for a moment, seeming to be searching for his words. Eventually he settled on, "I'm sorry for your loss... it's... hard when someone important to you is gone and you're expected to just move on, and people don't get that you still carry it with you."

“You never ‘move on’,” Loki agreed. “How can you? Their lives have touched yours, you carry something of them forever more. Leonardo taught me to paint, I carry that with me and think of him whenever I do so.” He smiled a little, humans especially tended to leave an impact on him. “But enough about my past love life. It is the here and now we need to discuss.”

"Yes, the Tesseract can wait for another day, I need to dig up Selvig's research to decide where to go next. FRIDAY, if you could get on that and call out the key points for me?"

"Sure thing, boss."

"Right, that's sorted, the PR issue is going to take a bit of thought before we start putting a plan in place... So, were you planning to stick around here longer, or was today's visit just for renegotiations?" Tony grinned at him.

“Initially for renegotiations, but I am done with class for today, so I can work with you. Money isn’t going to earn itself.” He grinned at Tony. “So, what are we working on today?”

"Let me put away what I was working on and get our files out," Tony said eagerly, and they quickly picked back up where they'd left the week before.

Chapter Text

The work had been steady over the last two weeks, Loki was happy to talk to Tony about whatever he wanted to know, provided he was getting paid of course. He hadn’t expected to enjoy his time with Tony, but here he was, happy to indulge him in his questions.

The topics had been varied so Loki was never bored. They had gone from scanning the Tesseract to Loki performing different forms of magic, and recently Tony had taken to scanning more of his animal forms. Loki had explained that he couldn’t take the shape of just any creature. He had to have touched it at least, preferably spent time with the creature to understand its ways and behaviour.

Today he was hanging upside down in the form of a fruit bat as Tony scanned him and then took the obligatory swabs before he changed back. “I find it fascinating that blood doesn’t rush to my head in that form,” Loki said as he looked at the results of Tony’s scan. “Their eyesight isn’t great though, especially in these bright lights.” Tony had commented that he’d like to find out just how much Loki’s DNA or physical form changed when he morphed into different species. Was he mostly still himself on the inside or did he take on the characteristics of the animal he was mimicking?

He knew some things always remained the same. Eye colour being one, and certain other external anatomical features, but otherwise he felt like he was the animal. He felt the power in his shoulders when he was a tiger. He felt the fire in his chest as a dragon. He felt the heartbeat of the world around him when he was a wolf.

"That suggests you also get the valves in your arteries like they have. I am really looking forward to the week next month that we'll have that MRI scanner on site." Tony sighed ruefully. "If I didn't know it would be a truly dickish move to cause people's appointments to be rescheduled just to sate my curiosity, I'd have offered them extra to get it here now. Maybe I should just build one on site..."

Loki grinned. “It seems like a lot of effort to go to just to have it to scan my various forms while you have me. It’s not like I will be here forever.”

Tony waved that away like it was of no concern. "I'm sure the doctors that get brought in sometimes would find it convenient having one on site."

“Why do doctors get brought in? Especially ones that would find an MRI scanner useful?”

"Because it’s Avengers compound. I thought that the understanding that with epic fighting comes epic injuries was a given. Not all of us have superhuman healing like you do," Tony grimaced in a way that he seemed unaware he did whenever a conversation moved in the direction of Rogers and the other missing Avengers. "Rhodey had to have a few MRIs in the early days of his rehab to check how things were going..." his eyes fell to where he was tapping his stylus absently against his leg. "He'll probably always need the exoskeleton to help him walk, based on the last one."

Loki opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it again. He didn’t know what Colonel Rhodes injuries were. He knew it was likely there was someone among his people that could help him. It wasn’t his help to offer though, he wasn’t sure he even should offer... but Tony just looked so pained at his friend’s suffering.

“You should speak with Haelga,” Loki said quietly. “She is one of the healers. She... may have some ideas on how to help Colonel Rhodes. I don’t promise a cure, but it may help you come up with an idea to help.”

Tony looked at him in surprise, and with a touch of guarded hope. "I... I'll talk to Rhodey first, I don't want to overstep... I... I've been known to do that," he admitted wryly.

“As have we all, I expect, when it is someone dear to us,” Loki said with a small smile. “Some of us just can’t leave things well enough alone.”

Tony snorted at that. "Well I'm particularly bad for it, or so I've been told."

An alarm started on one of the consoles and FRIDAY interrupted the moment. "Incoming call from Colonel Rhodes on the Avengers line, sir."

"That's been a while... Put him up on the main display, Fri."

Tony walked over to the central table in the lab as the holo-display flared to life. Loki followed, curious to see what was going on. What came up was a close-up shot of Colonel Rhodes face, most likely in his War Machine armour.

"Tony, suit up and head for LA." Rhodes glanced over Tony's shoulder at Loki. "If Vision, Bruce, Thor or anyone else wants to join us, I think we could use the help, but don't bring the kid. This is going to be too much for him, and I don't want to see him swatted like his namesake."

Tony frowned at that. "What is it? Piston's down in Long Island still, so either I'm going in the all-arounder, or I make a detour. Either way it's probably about 45 minutes before I get there."

"You won't be that long after me." Rhodes grimaced, "Early reports are saying Godzilla is attacking downtown LA."

"...Godzilla."

"Boss, I found some footage."

FRIDAY put up another display, it looked to be a local news channel's feed from a helicopter, and some sort of 30-story-tall reptile was pulling at the structure of a tower near the coastal side of the city.

“Huh... would you look at that,” Loki said, watching the creature. “I wonder where that came from.”

"Reports say 'the Pacific'," Rhodes said dryly. "And it's already managed a fair bit of destruction. Don't suppose you have a way to get Tony and some others to LA in less than 45 minutes?" He quirked an unimpressed brow at Loki.

“Even if I did, I doubt that I would have much incentive to do so,” Loki said. He wasn’t sure that he would be welcome, even if he did want to help. And he didn’t want to. Not even a little.

"Actually, remember that PR problem we were talking about the other day...?" Tony looked at him with a mischievous grin, and he was quite certain he wasn't going to like where this was heading. "Well I had a couple of discrete employees in the SI PR department run some ideas, and they said the fastest way to turn your image around would be to show you being heroic."

Loki scoffed at that. “Me? Heroic? I hardly think so.”

"You joined Thor's retro-boyband."

“Hey - I was not the one that named our group. And I only joined because my entire world was at stake. Honestly, the ‘Revengers’? What was he thinking?” Loki wished that he had come up with the name, but then, Thor would likely have vetoed anything he came up with.

"Well joining our boyband would be good for your image. FRIDAY, can you let Vis, Bruce and Thor know what's going on."

"Already working on it, Boss."

Loki rolled his eyes. “Well, you have fun with that,” Loki said.

"You're seriously going to turn down an opportunity to 1) take down a wanna-be Godzilla, and 2) start building a reputation that will get people fawning over you?"

Loki laughed. “Really? That’s your attempt at getting me to go with you? You know, I have other responsibilities, I can’t just go galivanting off to kill a giant lizard. That’s more Thor’s thing. I mean yes, he doesn’t have Mjolnir anymore, but he’s still the God of Thunder.” Loki frowned a little. It was true that Thor was still a force to be reckoned with, but what if something happened to him?

By the Norns, that would make him king.

And he didn’t want to be king in this scenario. He liked being king when it was nice and easy on Asgard. What if Thor got himself killed? “Although... if I take my debit card with me, I could probably go shopping after stopping it, right?”

Both Tony and Rhodes looked at him in disbelief.

"I doubt the downtown shopping district is going to be open for at least a few days after this," Rhodes said dryly.

"But," Tony put in, taking the opening Loki had given him, "I could take you out to Malibu, show you my old stomping grounds. Provided the monster doesn't hang a left when it's done with Santa Monica and head for Malibu instead of downtown LA proper."

“Hm, sounds like a plan,” Loki said with a grin. “I have a need for some new clothes and wish to purchase some books and stationary. Good stationary, for sketching and writing. And possibly scope out a laptop and phone... So, if we hurry we can get this monster taken care of today and go shopping tomorrow.”

"I'll take you to SI's west coast HQ for the tech, if you can get the rest of us there before Rhodey."

“No problem,” Loki said. He knew there would be a problem in a few days when he needed to rest with the amount of magic he was likely to use fighting the beast. But it would be worth it in the long run. “FRIDAY, can you show me on a map where the monster is?”

The display with the video of the city being attacked was replaced with a map of the United States, showing where Los Angeles was in relation to their current location. "Vision, Doctor Banner, Thor and The Valkyrie are preparing to travel. Shall I direct them to meet you here?"

“That will be fine,” Loki looked at Tony now, looking him up and down in his jeans and t-shirt. “You should go get your suit on.”

"I have an undersuit here, won't be 5 minutes," Tony went over to a cupboard and pulled out a tight-fitting garment before disappearing into the attached bathroom. Loki gave a soft huff as he closed the bathroom door. He had rather been hoping Tony would just change here so he could have a good look at him. He was a handsome man, but it was always nice to see underneath clothes before he ever committed to anything.

In the end, Loki didn't end up doing much fighting with the monster directly. His magic proved far more valuable protecting civilians that were trapped, or trying to evacuate, as the creature pulled sections of buildings down. It wasn't something any of the others were really suited for, so they played to their strengths and basically beat the giant thing until it fell to the street between the towers of downtown LA.

It wasn't until they were done that anyone realised Loki hadn't just positioned himself on the rolled school bus, because it made a good vantage point. It was still full of children.

Loki and the teacher were helping the children out of the back of the bus as Tony came down to land a short distance away. It quickly became apparent Loki had already developed a numerous, if very short, band of fans.

"Loki, is the big monster going to come back?" one of the children that was already outside and gathering around asked nervously.

"Yeah, are you sure it's dead?" a little boy asked, looking down the street towards where the giant lizard's tail could be seen curly around the side of a building.

They looked about the same age as Harley was when they'd met a few years ago, so Tony figured that must put them all around 10, 11 maybe? "Got everything under control, Dasher?" He didn't think he's used that reindeer yet. He was going to run out eventually, and then he'd need to come up with some new names for Loki.

Another kid frowned and looked from Tony to Loki. "Why is Iron Man calling you Dasher, I thought you were Loki?"

“I am Loki, Iron Man is trying to be funny and failing miserably.” He looked at one of the other children, “And yes, I am quite sure it is dead, or Iron Man would not be standing here bothering me.”

"Rude," Tony couldn't keep the grin from his voice even as he said it. His helmet retracted and he turned his smile on the kid that was worried about the monster still being alive. "The thing is dead, clean-up squad is on their way in. I just came over to see if I could help. Turn the bus off its side once everyone was out, maybe."

“I think even if you were to turn the bus onto its wheels, it is unlikely to run,” Loki rubbed his hands together. “Will we be long here, now that the beast is slain?”

“Mr Loki, are you on parole?” one of the kids asked and Loki stared at him, eyes a little wide. “It’s okay if you are, my dad’s on parole.”

A laugh startled out of Tony before he could stop it, the look on Loki's face was priceless. It was almost a shame he wasn't on parole, probably would have taken less convincing to get him here if he had been. "He already served his time off world," Tony told the kid, "he's here because he's not really a villain, he just made some really bad choices."

"That's what mom says about how dad ended up on parole," the kid said earnestly.

Loki shook his head and sighed, looking at the children, motioning them forward. “Come on, let me have a look at you all and make sure you’re alright.”

Tony was a little disappointed he didn't get a quip back from Loki for his description, but he supposed that wouldn't have been good for the positive PR they were trying to foster.

"By the way, Lokes, before Rhodey, Vis, Thor and I try to see if we can manage to lift Iguanazilla somewhere less... inconvenient, I don't suppose you have any handy magical doohickies squirrelled away that would help with that task?"

Loki rolled his eyes and looked at him. “I could probably freeze it solid, if that would help?”

“You can freeze the monster solid? How?” one of the kids asked.

“I have an artefact that can assist,” Loki said. “Stop squirming and let me look at that cut,” he said to the boy he was checking over.

"If it's going to add ice by pulling in moisture from the atmosphere, which will make the thing heavier, that's probably counterproductive. But if squishiness proves more of a hindrance than weight, I'll get back to you." Tony smirked in amusement as he watched Loki carefully applying a bit of healing magic to the cut.

Loki’s full attention was on the boy as the skin knitted together, when he was done he looked at the boy's teacher. “You should tell his parents that he will need rest for a day or so, but he will be fine.” Only then did he look to Tony. “Do let me know, I have my hands quite full here.”

"Yeah, I see that. If I see any paramedics, I'll send them your way." Tony grinned before reactivating his helmet and going to join Vision, Rhodey and Thor. One of the parking lots at Exposition Park might do as a place to put the thing for now, if they could get it there. Guess it was time to see, as the helmet closed over his face, Tony took back to the air.

After losing the house along the shore in Malibu, Tony had considered rebuilding. It wouldn't have been the same, though, and there was the part where everyone knew where the location was, thanks to his angry pronouncement. He still loved the area, though, and in the end, he bought a new house further up into the hills.

They all needed to rest after their fight, and there were a few samples Tony and Bruce had taken from the monster that they wanted to run tests on. So rather than travelling back to New York, they all retired back to the house for the night.

As tired as they all were, Loki in particular looked dead on his feet, and Tony couldn't help frowning in concern as Loki ate his own portion of the pizza with little enthusiasm.

Loki had barely eaten two slices before leaning back with a sigh, clearly done with eating for now as Thor spoke at him after hearing about Loki’s plan B. “Thor, for the last time, it would be fine - I would just go to Alfheim and have more - I mean - have children.” He rubbed his forehead.

"More children?!" Thor set his own slice of pizza down in shock, and everyone's attention was drawn to the pair, if it wasn't already before. "Loki, that implies you have had children there in the past."

“Slip of the tongue,” Loki said, waving his hand dismissively.

Thor was not to be deterred. "Which suggests it is the truth, and one you have become too tired to hide. When have you..." A look of dawning realisation came across Thor's face. "You married during one of your disappearances?"

“Oh, noticed my disappearances, did we? I rather thought everyone was too busy fawning over you for you to notice.” He yawned, rubbing his face. “I am not awake enough to talk about my past marriages, I am going to bed,” he said as he stood.

"Marriages, as in more than one?!" Tony wasn't sure if Aesir could have an aneurysm from shock, but Thor seemed like he was on his way to one.

"There's enough rooms upstairs for us all to have one of our own," as curious as Tony was, he could see now wasn't the time to press. If he really wanted answers, he'd need to save his questions for when he and Loki were mostly alone and Loki was in a good mood. He'd learned that much over the last few weeks. "You can have any room except the one at the end on the left, that's mine."

"Stark," Thor gave him a disapproving glare. What was it about eye patches and one-eyed glares that seemed particularly intense? But Tony just gave him his 'who, me?' smile back.

Loki nodded and he turned, walking towards the stairs, stumbling as he went, catching himself on the wall. He walked up the stairs, clearly exhausted. “Don’t let him follow me,” Loki called over his shoulder, clearly referencing Thor.

Thor huffed as he picked up his pizza again and took a disgruntled bite from it.

"I think you're safe!" Tony called after him.

“Excellent,” Loki said. “You can follow me if you want to,” Loki added with a laugh as he disappeared upstairs.

Tony stared after him for a moment, caught between two conflicting elements of surprise at himself. A younger, pre-Afghanistan Tony Stark would have been up and out of his seat without a thought. Loki was just his type, tall, lithe, intelligent, and more than a bit sassy. At the same time, he didn't find himself dismissing the idea entirely out of hand, which... well, that was a first since he and Pepper had called it quits. In the end, too much time with him had proven to be more than their relationship could take, and that knowledge of how he'd driven her away... Driven even Pepper's seemingly unending patience to an end... His eye hadn't been caught by anyone else as he'd been too wrapped up in his loss... in himself. One of the faults Pepper had trouble looking past the more time went on.

But Loki... hmm, Tony wasn't entirely certain what Loki wanted from him, aside from the obvious. Tony shook his head as he finally looked away, too tired to parse it all out just now.

“Did he just proposition you?” Rhodey asked, halfway between appalled and confused.

“He did,” Bruce said, still eating pizza.

“Was he serious?”

“Knowing him? Probably - especially with the amount I babysat for him on the way here...” Bruce looked to Valkyrie now. “He had you babysit sometimes too, didn’t he?”

"Yes, it was easy to watch over Ádís while she slept. It's my favourite time to watch over any of the sprogs," Valkyrie gave him an only slightly ironic grin.

Bruce smiled. “She’s a good kid, went back to sleep quite quickly when you would read to her. Even you can handle that,” he said, his smile softening before looking to Tony. “You okay?”

"Yeah, just... tired, I guess. It has been a long day," Tony didn't really feel like getting into his thoughts regarding Loki and Pepper right now, especially not in front of Thor.

“Well, he’s likely to be out cold at least until tomorrow afternoon from what he’s told me,” Bruce said. “I asked him why he didn’t use more of his magic around the Chitauri when they were invading. He said that if he uses too much it exhausts him. Told me a story about how he was out for three days once, and Thor was convinced he was dead.” Bruce looked at Thor with a grin. “He said Frigga told him you held a mirror under his nose to make sure he was still breathing.”

"It was the first time he had used his magic to such depletion. We were barely over five centuries then, but we'd already had many adventures and I had never seen him affected in such a way. He dropped where he'd stood when the fight was over, Volstagg and I had to carry him home." The smile as Thor reminisced became sadder at the mention of his dead friend and ruined home.

Tony wasn't sure he could take any more bittersweet reminiscing after having been sent down paths of his own regrets and failed relationship. As he finished the last bite of his slice, he stood, wiping off his hands. "You know what, I think I'm going to go get some sleep as well. I can already feel the bruises forming on my back from when that thing swatted me against the side of a building."

“I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” Bruce said with a smile. “Your suit protects you quite well.”

"And that is why I don't have a concussion, but even I can only do so much," Tony grinned wryly. "But painkillers, a bottle of water, and a good night's rest are in order. Probably followed by a very long, very hot bath in the morning, or whenever it is I wake up." Tony started towards the stairs. "FRIDAY, don't wake me up unless it's an emergency, some really interesting test results come back from those samples, or I've been asleep 20 hours."

"Understood, boss."

Tony gave them all a wave and headed up the stairs. He paused for a moment in front of the closed door where Loki must be sleeping, but with a small shake of his head he continued on and went to his own bed. Alone.

Loki slowly came back to consciousness after what felt like days of slumber. He felt the blankets on top of him, felt the weight of his own body resting on the mattress, and gave a soft sigh. It was gloriously comfortable and he ached a little. The sort of satisfying ache after a good work out or a good sparring session. It had been a long time since he’d felt the same sensation in his bones from using his magic, when he could be sure of a safe place to recuperate.

He slowly sat up, rubbing his face and then running a hand through his hair. He yawned long and wide, looking around the room. Loki smiled as he saw the armour he had been wearing yesterday just strewn about the room. He had been so tired when he came to bed.

How long had it been?

“FRIDAY?” he asked tentatively. He wasn't sure that she would be present in here. He didn’t know if all of Tony’s homes were wired the same way as the Avengers facility.

"Yes, Prince Loki?"

“How long have I been asleep?”

"39.7 hours, sir, give or take a couple minutes."

“Oh...” Loki supposed it wasn’t too bad. He’d slept longer before, but this was just protection spells and a bit of healing. Nothing too out of the ordinary. His stomach grumbled audibly and he sighed, slowly moving to get out of bed. As he tried to stand his legs gave way , and he gave a frustrated, “Hmm...” as he pushed himself back up, getting to the bed once more. He should wake up a bit more before going anywhere it appeared. “Well that was embarrassing.”

"Do you require me to summon assistance, Prince Loki?"

“I’ll be fine,” Loki said, “though I appreciate the concern.” He rubbed his legs and sighed. It was always the same when he woke after a magical exhaustion. He had aches and he was weak, which is why he never used too much power. It left you vulnerable. “Though I am hungry...” he admitted to FRIDAY.

"The boss is down in the kitchen... attempting to make omelettes," she finished rather dubiously.

“Hmm... why do I get the impression that I should not eat any omelettes presented to me?”

"They won't poison you, but... Colonel Rhodes has indicated the only things of particular culinary merit that the boss is able to make are smoothies, coffee, and to quote 'things that just need to be shoved in the oven, and have a ten minute margin of error to keep it from being overcooked'."

“Ah,” Loki said. “Well... I suppose I will just need to wait...” he settled himself back on the bed, stretching his legs out. “Did you tell Thor I have woken? If you haven’t, please delay, he gets... overly emotional.”

"Your brother is still asleep. He and miss Valkyrie were up late, working their way through sir's supply of spirits last night."

“Ah, good...” he rubbed the back of his neck and his stomach growled again. He really did need to eat but Tony’s omelettes sounded terrifying. “Is there anything to eat besides Tony’s questionable omelettes?”

"There are various supplies stocked in the kitchen. Breakfast cereals or toast are always an option."

Loki thought about it for a few moments before he nodded. “I think I should be able to make something then... tell me he hasn’t used all of the eggs?” He slid towards the edge of the bed and slowly stood. This time he remained standing.

"No, half remain at present, though I believe even he is finding his current effort lacking in... flavour."

“I see... well, let’s see what we can do about that.” He flicked his wrist, pulling on a pair of loose-fitting trousers and a T-shirt as he walked towards the door. He paused, his hand on the knob, a flash of the evening he went to bed coming across his memory.

“FRIDAY... did I make a fool of myself before I went to bed?”

"That is a very subjective question, sir."

Loki wasn’t exactly comforted by that comment. “I - oh by the Norns...” he rubbed his face. He had propositioned Tony, in front of everyone. This, this was one of the other reasons he didn’t take himself too far past his magical limits. Maybe if he just pretended it never happened? That he couldn’t remember.

But he did remember... and maybe he was just a little disappointed that Tony hadn’t followed him to bed. It would have made a very nice end to a stressful day.

He supposed he would just pretend it hadn’t happened and if Tony brought it up, well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

“No one laughed, if that was your concern,” FRIDAY continued. “Colonel Rhodes expressed shock at your parting words, which prompted a short discussion regarding the need for an alternative carer for miss Ádís on occasion during your journey to Earth. The conversation quickly moved elsewhere, however, and became more boisterous as your brother recounted more of your childhood adventures after the boss left.”

“Well, that’s something at least. Right, let’s see what mess he has gotten himself into.”

Loki opened the door, making his way downstairs, vaguely remembering stumbling up them two nights ago. He made his way to the kitchen and watched Tony at the stove. The kitchen was a bit of a disaster, ‘attempting’ to make omelettes was correct.

“What are you doing to those poor innocent eggs?” Loki asked as he walked towards him.

“Making a spinach and feta omelette.”

Based on how Tony was frowning tiredly at the pan, he was just as dubious of his own efforts as Loki was. He glanced over at Loki, and finally registering who he was talking to, Loki was certain he saw a light flush further darken Tony’s tanned complexion as he looked back at his pan and gave it a dubious nudge with the wooden spoon. Well that was interesting.

Loki smiled, walking to stand beside him, looking at the frightening mess in the pan. “That is not an omelette. That is a tragedy,” he said, looking at the rather interesting texture as it jiggled.

“You can do better? Go right ahead.” Tony stepped back, waving at the mess of the counter and cooktop.

Loki smiled at that, stepping towards the stove. Clearly Tony had remembered his words and was not opposed to them. “Well this can go away for a start,” Loki said, flicking his wrist, sending the offending ‘food’ off somewhere else. He wondered if the things he banished ended up on Sakaar.

He had a brief mental image of the Grandmaster being hit by Tony’s omelette and it made him grin.

“Well if you’re going to enjoy my labours you can help. I need garlic and some basil too if you have it fresh, not dried.” He took the pan to the sink, giving it a rinse.

Tony went over to the fridge and rummaged around, he came out with a jar of pre-diced garlic and some sort of green tube. "What about basil paste?"

“Hmm, let me see it,” Loki said, setting the pan back on the stove, adjusting the heat. Tony gave him the tube and he looked at the ingredients. “Hm, it’s something like pesto, just not as good,” he said and nodded. It would do.

Loki grabbed the bowl, setting to work, cracking eggs, splashing in some milk. He chopped up the spinach and crumbled the feta cheese, all the while Tony watched as the eggs hit the pan. There was easily enough for two servings. “How many omelettes have you tried to make?” he asked, looking at the carnage around him.

"Today, or in general...?" Tony asked uncertainty, looking away from Loki's hands. He'd watched them as Loki quickly whipped up the eggs, like they were truly fascinating.

“Both?” Loki asked. How could a grown man not know how to cook eggs? Even if you can’t make an omelette or frittata, you could at least make mixed eggs.

Tony considered a moment, before finally saying, "Four, two today," with some appalled resignation.

“Oh,” Loki said, looking at him and then back to the pan. “You never learned to cook?”

"I learned to make tea, and how to assemble an excellent British trifle from already cooked ingredients..." Tony frowned, looking into the distance out the window, "the latter of which was done while Howard was out of town."

Loki frowned at that as he continued cooking. “Why only when he was out of town?” Loki asked. Tony didn’t speak of his father very much. When he did, it was never with much fondness.

"He considered learning to cook an unnecessary distraction."

“Distraction from what?” Loki asked, crumbling some more cheese into the pan. “I mean, my father never sent me for lessons, but I was never stopped from learning what I wanted to.”

"Learning to be an engineer. I started learning the stuff as soon as I could hold the tools." Tony turned to lean his back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, a move that looked more like self-protection than just casual placement. "I built my first completed circuit board when I was four, finished my first working engine when I was six... Dad said I could have finished it six months earlier if I'd been paying more attention to my lessons."

Loki frowned as he finished the first omelette. “But... you were a child. That is quite an achievement at that age. My children were nowhere near as advanced at that age.”

"For every goal post I reached, there was always another one after it. Graduated MIT at seventeen," Tony said and smiled wryly. "That's where I met Rhodey, he was saddled with me as a roommate freshman year. Can't imagine any seventeen-year-old who'd want a thirteen-year-old as a college roommate, but he decided I was some sort of wayward little brother, instead of the annoying twerp I really was. And he's been putting up with me ever since."

“He seems like he is a good friend,” Loki said quietly. “You need to hold onto those.” He finished the first omelette, setting it on the first waiting plate. “Breakfast is served,” he said with a small smile, starting on the second omelette for himself.

Tony looked down at the plate in surprise. "That... right, you can do way better than me," he admitted and moved to a drawer, pulling out a pair of forks.

“I have been married several times, the first was to a Viking man named Ulfric. His mother taught me to cook after I told her my parents had passed when I was very young. I was a very good wife to her son.” He grinned at Tony’s surprise. “In the old Nordic lands, the women were the ones who kept the books and looked after the accounts and home, as mathematics were considered to be ‘witchcraft’ and so, women’s work. I ensured my daughter Katla had a good understanding of math and magic like I did. And cooking, naturally. She became the healer and wise woman of our village with her ‘friend’ Alga living with her.”

"Wife... So, you were shapeshifted as a woman that time?"

“Yes, it was a good way to disappear. Be someone different. I hadn’t intended on remaining here so long that first time. But...” Loki smiled softly, remembering Ulfric as he approached him at the bar in the mead hall. “I met him and he courted me, he was infatuated. I liked the attention, liked not being me for a while.” He looked at Tony. “And then I got pregnant... now that had been a surprise.”

"I take it you didn't realise it was a possibility before then?"

“No, it had never occurred to me as a possibility,” he said. He wondered how he hadn’t known, he’d known that he was different, but it was never explicitly explained. He had been raised male. “I knew I was different, but not that different. Ulfric was ecstatic, as I had told him I couldn’t have children, because I thought that was the case. We had started looking into a surrogate and then... well, I got very sick some mornings and his mother diagnosed me with pregnancy. I had never been so scared in my life.”

"Wait..." Tony's brow furrowed in thought, and he paused in his eating as he ran Loki's words through his head again. "Do you mean you didn't know at that point your shapeshifting went more than skin deep, or...?"

“Ah... yes...” Loki kept his eyes on the second omelette. He supposed if he was thinking of sleeping with Tony, he should come clean about his unique biology. He didn’t want to shapeshift to one or the other, he wanted to be wholly him. “I am what I believe you would call intersex; I have both male and female physical attributes. When I was young, I did not know that extended to a fully functioning uterus and ovary.”

"Oh! So..." Tony cut himself off, perhaps trying to decide what wouldn't be too prying to ask. Finally, he settled on, "When Humans are intersex, it never results in full anatomical duality. Our hormonal systems wouldn't allow it. Is that... a jotun thing?"

“I have no idea, but it is so perfectly formed that I can’t help but think that it must be,” he looked at Tony. “Mostly I was one or the other on Earth, but with Leonardo I was myself. He found me rather fascinating.” Loki smiled a bit at that. “I tend to remain as I am with lovers these days. I do not hide my true nature.”

"It's hard pretending you're something you aren't..." Tony said softly. "I can only imagine how much worse that must be when it's such a fundamental part of yourself. If he was the first you were... you with, I can see why you always speak of him with such fondness." Tony huffed a little laugh. "That and his brilliance, what wasn't to like there?"

“He was - the first I mean. I don’t know how, but he could tell I wasn’t being my true self. He could tell there was something different, so I showed him. I expected him to recoil, but he was just fascinated.” Loki smiled at that. “Ever the scholar.”

"Did he know you weren't human?"

“After a few months he did,” Loki said. “I told him about Asgard. About my family. About my home...” He still ached that he would never see Asgard again. He knew they would find somewhere to settle, but it would never be the same.

"I... I'm sorry for what you've lost. To lose your world like that... I know you were suspicious of my generosity when you all arrived. I just... I know nothing can really make something like that right, so I'm trying to do what I can." Tony smiled wryly, "And if I get more info about your tech and fancy magic mumbo jumbo, that's an added bonus."

Loki smiled as he continued looking at the omelette. “I appreciate that. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the help you have given us. Even the money you are paying me for the work we are doing together. FRIDAY helped me order some things online for the kids a few days ago. Some books and toys, they lost everything when we had to flee. I know the kids will be fine, children are resilient, but I just want them to feel settled and safe, wherever they are, and you have gone a long way to facilitating that. So... thank you.”

Tony waved the thanks away. "I've been responsible for a lot of awful in the world, I'm just trying to pay some of that back."

“Well, I’m quite sure I’ve done worse than you, so you can accept my thanks,” Loki said. “I’m not sure I would help me if I were you.”

"I suppose there are plenty of reasons I shouldn't help you, specifically, but I'd have been an asshole to hold you against the rest of them. And you... have been much better company than I was expecting." Tony stabbed a bit of omelette with the fork and held it up, "and a much better cook."

Loki grinned. “Eggs were always quite plentiful, in any era. I learned to cook them first, and then other things, depending on the region I was living in at the time.”

"...Just how many eras of Earth have you lived through?"

“I’m not sure, they all sort of blur together. I was with my husband in the south of France while Napoleon was being a little shit. We had to move to get away from the war. He was very impressed when I killed three of the ‘Grand Armie’ when they tried to forcefully drag him and my oldest son to war. I spent time in Italy, the Americas, Constantinople, Japan... not all of them for full lives.”

"And in all that time I suppose Asgard's culture didn't change that much, since it was still the same generations about... It must have been a strange juxtaposition."

“It was. I’d be away and then come back to find humans had advanced so much, but when I returned to Asgard everything was just... the same. I am hoping that if we remain on Earth, things will change more, we will not be so set in our ways.”

"I suppose even if Thor does secure your people a country, you'll be small enough you'll have to interact with humans, and that will force your people to adapt."

“That is my hope,” Loki said, looking at Tony as he finished the second omelette, putting it on a plate and setting the pan down in the sink. “Thor will be a good King to adapt to this. Father... well, he didn’t like change.” He began to eat his omelette. It was good, but it would have been better with fresh basil or proper pesto.

"There are humans like that, but we don't stick around as long," Tony gave a little shrug, "so we're all inevitably replaced eventually."

“As is the way with all things,” Loki said. “Now, enough about all that, when are we going shopping?”

Tony laughed at that. "Well, everyone but you, me and Bruce already headed back east last night. Bruce and I still had a few samples running in the lab, and since you were still sleeping, we were happy to stay here for now. I suppose if Bruce is happy to keep tabs on the lab with just FRIDAY today, we can head out this morning."

“That would be nice. I have a list you see.”

"A list?" Tony quirked a brow with a laugh, it was a nice look on him. "And just what kind of things are on this list?"

“Normal things,” he said. “Some clothes, the laptop and phone you promised me, some books for the children. Some fabric would be good, Klara was complaining that she wanted to make her own clothes and she could make some for the others. And probably a sewing machine.” Now that he thought about it, he might need two sewing machines. “And I will need a pot and some planting supplies. You see? A normal list.”

"A pot and planting supplies?" Tony hadn't looked surprised until then.

“I have some seeds from Asgard that I wish to plant.” Not that he had admitted it to Thor, but he had six golden apples with him in stasis. He was hoping to get a couple of trees to grow, amongst other things.

"Hmm, I hadn't realised anyone had anything plantable with them. Well, I suppose you'll want more than just one pot then. Are you just wanting a few things or a whole lot, because if we're talking a truckload of stuff, it might be better getting it back in New York."

“I don’t think I have enough money for a ‘truckload’. I just wish to see what there is. If I find something to my liking, I may purchase. But really, what I want for myself is some clothes and some good writing equipment.”

"Alright, well we'll start at SI headquarters then, and grab an intern with an extra car while we're at it, to pack the purchases in."

“Won’t the intern have other things to do?” Loki asked.

Tony waved that concern away. "Eh, if it's one from the ops team, their job is to run errands for the senior staff. One of the execs can get their own coffee today."

“So... they just run errands?” Loki asked dubiously. “I’m sure there is more to it than that, but if you are certain there will be someone to assist, who am I to turn down the help?”

"There's always someone eager to help when I need an assistant for the day," Tony shrugged, and finished with his omelette he put his dishes in the washer. "Thank you for breakfast, by the way, it was good."

“You’re welcome,” Loki said with a small smile. “I do not cook often, tends to only be when I am on Earth that I do. On Asgard, people cooked for me.” He looked at Tony as he continued to eat. “I could teach you a little, if you wanted.”

Tony looked at him in surprise, in a way Loki was pretty sure reflected on his not expecting the invitation at all, as opposed to not expecting it from him. "I... sure, it'd be good to be able to do more than freezer meals and smoothies."

Loki smiled a little. “I can cook a fair few things. I spent a few lifetimes as a housewife and had husbands who very much appreciated my work. And a few wives who loved that they had a husband who could cook and look after the children at the same time. It would be my pleasure to teach you.”

"Thank you, I'd appreciate it." Tony looked a little bit flustered and unsure how to deal with this offer that had nothing to do with their business arrangement. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "So, I should go check in with Bruce before we leave... Meet in an hour?"

“Sounds good,” Loki said as he finished his own breakfast. “Gives me time for a shower.”

Loki watched as Tony’s eyes flicked up and down his body and he managed to suppress the grin that wished to spread over his face. Tony was interested, there was no doubt, but he couldn’t rush these things, oh no. He needed to take his time.

"Uh, yeah, plenty of time for that." Tony smiled, perhaps a bit too casually, and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "So yeah, lab, see you in an hour," and he headed off toward the basement.

Loki grinned as he watched Tony leave, chuckling softly to himself as he headed back to his room. He was going to have a very pleasant shower indeed as he thought about what he may do in the future with Mr Tony Stark.

Chapter Text

Loki had enjoyed his day shopping with Tony. He had gotten a lot of stationary, books for the children, some gifts for the nursing mothers. He knew that Thor and the others were busy with the negotiations. He had never meant to play the dutiful prince, but here he was, among the people, giving out his gifts when he felt little arms wrap around his waist, hugging him tightly.

He looked down at Ádís and smiled softly, “Hello little one.”

"You came back," she whispered, face buried against his side, and held on a bit tighter.

He leaned down, getting on her level. “Of course I did,” he told her softly, “I had to do some work...” Loki looked at her, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, letting her hug him. His heart broke a little for the pain she had endured, for the pain she still endured. “I am safe, little one, no need to fear.”

"King Thor, the Valkyrie, they came back. You didn't..." Ádís buried her face in his shoulder, holding on like she was afraid to let go.

“Oh Ádís, I’m sorry...” Loki hugged her tightly against him. “How about next time if I go away, I promise I will call you?”

She looked up at him, with her eyes that were far too serious for her age. "Do you have to go away?"

Loki’s heart broke all over again as he looked at her. “Sometimes,” he said softly and he wished now that he didn’t need to. That his ‘image’ didn’t matter. That he could spend the next few years with this wonderful little girl and help build her confidence up once more. But the truth was, he couldn’t. He had his responsibilities. “I do not wish to go, but when you’re an adult, you have things you need to do. But I promise I only go because I need to, and I will do my best to always come back to you.”

"Okay," Ádís agreed, but he could tell she didn't want to.

He kissed her temple, holding her close. “I got you a little gift,” Loki told her softly, flicking his wrist and producing a small stuffed tiger.

She pulled back enough to look at the gift and her eyes widened. "A little Logi..."

Loki smiled at her expression. “Yes. I thought you could cuddle him when I am not there.”

Ádís pulled back a bit more and accepted the toy, holding it close. "You're better, but... he's very soft."

“He is,” Loki said with a smile, “and he has green eyes like mine.” Loki had been very excited when he had spotted the little tiger. He knew he had to have it for Ádís as soon as he saw it.

"Thank you." She hugged Loki again, this time with Logi between them, and it was a little less desperate this time, a little closer to just the enthusiastic hug of a child for their guardian.

“You’re welcome little one.” Loki eventually pulled back, looking at her with a fond smile. “Now, I need to put some things away in our rooms, that I bought while I was away. Do you want to come with me?”

"Yes," she nodded eagerly and took his hand.

Loki held her hand tightly as he walked with her back to their room. “I bought you some books as well, that we can read together. We can look over them while we put them away.” He felt her squeeze his hand as they walked and he smiled softly. He hadn’t meant to become a father again, he had meant only to look after Ádís until she took a shine to one of the families, preferably one of the couples with a child already. That way she’d have a sibling to look out for her as well.

But that never happened. It seemed it wasn’t meant to be, it certainly wasn’t what Ádís wanted, nor apparently what she needed.

Loki hadn’t considered ever having more children under his care. He'd said that several times before, and somehow each time he wound up falling in love and starting another family. This time was different though, being a single father had never been on his agenda. Looking down at this little girl that trusted him so completely, though, he couldn't find it in himself to regret how things had turned out in the least.

News Anchor, Sydney Anderson: On the Evening News this Wednesday, have the Avengers been collaborating with a known criminal? But first, the headlines in 60 seconds.
The official death toll is rising as rubble excavation in Santa Monica and Los Angeles continues. First responders say efforts are moving from rescue to recovery as work moves into the fourth day.
The science of predicting and preparing for the next pandemic. Scientists at MIT funded by the Maria Stark Foundation say we're not ready now - but we can be.
The murder trial of former NFL quarterback, Hernado Arnez got underway today. Opening remarks were followed by the dramatic testimony of both the accused's fiancée and her sister, speaking in detail about the night Arnez allegedly killed Thomas Milner, the man he claims his fiancée was cheating on him with.
A close call at the Springfield Branson National Airport. Officials say that people were driving through the runways to get to a company picnic. Wow! That was not a wise decision.

[[The opening music and logo scroll by as the screen flips from the clips back onto the news desk.]]

Sydney Anderson: Good evening, I'm Sydney Anderson, and we are going to begin tonight with the Avengers and the Battle of Los Angeles. Speculation has been growing for days that one of the 'heroes' of the day was none other than Loki, the mysterious figure that led the Battle of New York six years ago, only to disappear with the mighty Thor back to Asgard the following day.

[[A side-by-side shot rolls of Loki shielding the school bus from falling debris, with grainy cell phone footage of Loki's speech in Stuttgart. The image moves on to a reporter sitting down with a mother and her child, as well as the teacher from the bus.]]

Reporter: You said his name was Loki?
Child: That's what he said. The monster's tail hit our bus and it rolled, we all thought we were going to die, but he saved us. [[He lifts up his arm, showing the raised red line of a long cut down the back, which looks like it's been healing for weeks rather than days.]] He even fixed my arm.
Teacher: When the bus flipped over, it seemed like we were about to be buried. The lizard was pulling down chunks of concrete from the buildings all around us, and they kept hitting the bus. And then suddenly he was above us, standing on the side of the bus, and there was some sort of forcefield all around us, stopping the concrete from landing.
Reporter: So you're saying he really did save you, this wasn't some ruse?
Teacher: I'm quite certain if it weren't for him, most of us, if not all of us on that bus, would be dead. And when the lizard was down, he stuck around and helped heal the children. He did so much for us... It's hard to believe he's the same man that made that over the top speech in Germany years ago.
Mother: I know there are people that will still hate him for what happened in New York, they're not wrong to, but I can't have anything but gratitude that he ensured my Colin would come home to me....

[[When the interview is over, it cuts back to Sydney Anderson.]]

Sydney Anderson: And then yesterday a resident of Malibu captured this footage of Iron Man, Tony Stark, and another man - who is believed to be Loki - out shopping on Rodeo Drive, as shops reopened for business around the city outside the direct area of destruction.

[[Footage clearly taken by a mobile phone plays of the pair out shopping, laughing over something together. Loki is carrying a stuffed tiger and a few other bags, and a young man in his 20s trails along behind them, carrying some more. Voiceover continues as this footage is compared to that from the battle days before, and from six years ago. Abruptly it cuts back to Sydney Anderson.]]

Sydney Anderson: Apologies, we're interrupting our originally scheduled piece to go to our on-site reporter, Michael Wescott, as a press conference is just about to start at the UN Headquarters in Turtle Bay. Michael?

[[The reporter stands at the side of a crowd of other press as a number of diplomats assemble in the background behind some microphones.]]

Michael Wescott: Thanks Sydney. While speculation has raged on in recent days about the origins of what has since been identified as a super-mutated marine iguana, and some of the more mysterious heroes that helped stop it, the UN has remained unusually silent. As the only authority the Avengers directly report to, many have said their response to these questions is long overdue. Less than an hour ago, it was announced we would finally get some of our answers...

[[The camera pans over to the diplomats and zooms in on the tall, blonde woman at the middle. Below her on the screen pops up 'Amora Karnilladottir, Attaché for Iceland'.]]

Amora: Thank you all for coming. I'd appreciate it if you hold your questions until I've completed my statement.
The origin of the creature that attacked Santa Monica and southern LA on Sunday is still under investigation. The rumours that the creature originated in North Korea are unfounded. Not only are they denied by North Korean officials, but our scientific experts have advised the creature would not have been capable of making such a journey unnoticed, given the ocean currents its route would have required. We will continue our investigations until the source has been found.
In the matter of the members of the Avengers fighting force, other than the widely recognized Iron Man, War Machine, Vision and recently returned Hulk. We can confirm that all three are in fact members of the Aesir race. The recently coronated King Thor, was accompanied by his personal bodyguard known as the Valkyrie.
Also present - having been pardoned of his past crimes, in recognition of his services to the people of the Nine Realms during the Convergence events of four years ago and playing a pivotal role in the rescue and evacuation to Earth of the remaining population of the planetoid Asgard during its destruction earlier this year - was Prince Loki.

[[The press corps erupted into a cacophony of shouted questions, not willing to wait for another word of the statement to be spoken.]]

Loki walked into the lab and Tony tried to hide his frown, but he didn't think he'd done a very good job of it by the way Loki frowned thoughtfully back at him. It wasn't really Loki he was frowning at, he'd found himself unexpectedly actually liking the guy - now that he wasn't playing at being an evil overlord or the like - but rather the problems that came with him. And in this case, specifically the coming month with Peter and Ned at the Compound, and how he was going to have to change his plans.

As Loki walked over to stand beside him, he looked at Tony thoughtfully. “Who touched your stuff?” he asked. “The last time I saw you wearing anything approaching that expression, it was when Thor stole me from your custody.”

That startled a laugh from Tony, Loki was good at that, one of the things that had first begun endearing him to Tony. "No one 'touched my stuff'. I just had two rather unpleasant phone calls this morning, only one of which I could take care of by simply hanging up and refusing to answer again." If Barton wanted to harangue him about Loki being an Avenger - which wasn't technically true, but that was beside the point - he could do his ranting to Tony's voicemail. From which it could be summarily deleted, thank you very much. He might have helped negotiate the guy out of a prison sentence, but it didn't mean everything that had happened was all water under the bridge.

“Hmm, I always get a certain joy in hanging up on people,” Loki perched on one of the stools. “As for the second call?”

"May Parker isn't 'buying' your 'reformed villain routine', and was going to put the kibosh on Peter and Ned coming up here at all, if I didn't promise to keep them away from you for the entire month they're here working on the ship with me."

“Good for her, I always said that human women had sense.” He gave Tony a small smile, “I wouldn’t worry too much about it, you need me to assist you with the ship. I can disguise myself easily enough.”

Tony couldn't help a surprised quirk of his brow at that. "For a whole month?"

“Not the entire time, obviously,” Loki said with a roll of his eyes. “I would be around elsewhere, but when working with you I can be in disguise. I am rather good at pretending to be someone else. I have done it often enough. It can be tiring being the spare to the throne.”

"I just mean it needs to be perfect, Pete can't find out or May will have my hide. He's absolutely terrible at keeping secrets, it's frankly amazing so few people know he's Spidey at this point."

“I will be perfect,” Loki assured him. “If I can hide in plain sight in a land that worshipped me as a god, I think I will be fine. Ulfric never suspected a thing.”

"Ulfric?"

“My first husband, with whom I had three children. I think I can keep a secret for a month, if I spent forty years with him and never let it slip.”

Well, that was an impressive amount of dedication. "My apologies for doubting you."

“No harm done. The only one that knew I wasn’t quite what I seemed was my daughter. I had to explain how she had real magic, and not just the magic the people thought all women had. You know, like math.” Loki smiled a bit at that. “Witchcraft was science back then, I found it amusing. I used to like to do ‘tricks’ with volatile metals and water. I got quite the reputation in the village.”

"A trickster in any life, eh?"

“Of course, would you expect anything less?” Loki smirked at him, turning his attention now to the computer. “So - do not worry yourself about the logistics of keeping my identity secret. You will get along very well with ‘Lydia’, I’m sure.”

"'Lydia', hmm? Anything else I should know about her?"

“Only that you will know her when you see her. And the last time a man annoyed her, she broke his arm.” Loki smiled at that, clearly some memory amusing him.

"Well noted," Tony held up his hands in a motion of surrender, he liked his arms just the way they were, thank you very much.

And yet the idea of seeing just how far he could push Loki, or rather Lydia, before they got to that point, was more than a bit exciting. A little voice - that always sounded suspiciously like Rhodey - reminded him it was impulses like that which routinely got him in trouble, and were what had people saying he had no sense of self-preservation.

“What are we working on today?” Loki asked, changing the subject. “I have money to earn. I have my eye on a rather nice Armani suit.”

Loki in an Armani suit, now that was a sight Tony would enjoy seeing, he had no doubt Loki would be able to wear one very elegantly. "Well far be it from me to keep you from an Armani. I wanted to go over this section of the engine controls, there are some words and icons that aren't in my translated copy yet, and it's best not to be guessing when it comes to things that can blow up with the wrong command."

“Yes, I would advise against randomly hitting buttons. Especially if you were on the smaller ship, goodness knows what you’d uncover...”

Loki's voice most certainly wasn’t insinuating explosions of the fiery type, and Tony grinned. "End up viewing an unexpected part of the Grandmaster's video collection?"

Loki laughed, “Oh no, I wiped those as soon as I downloaded the ones I wanted.”

"The accessories used to make those videos then," Tony grinned wider.

“Indeed,” Loki agreed with amusement. “Thor almost had a heart attack when he pressed a button and some shackles dropped from a compartment above the captain’s chair.”

"Hmm, that seems both reckless and exhilarating." Tony had to push away the mental images that engendered. "I'm sure the now oh so responsible King Thor would have been horrified at it."

Loki laughed, looking at Tony, his eyes full of mirth and mischief. “Horrified is an understatement. He expressed he did not need to know about the ‘roleplay’ that went on in the ship. I explained it was not roleplay exactly. I was having a great time in the swing and shackles, but it doesn’t make it roleplay.”

Barking out a laugh, Tony put on his best impersonation of Thor's voice as he said, "Let me guess, 'Brother, I do not require the details of your trysts with that fiend'," and he finished with a horrified expression for good measure.

Loki grinned. “Is it my fault that I’m much better looking and better at talking than him?” Loki chuckled softly. “My brother has always been a prude... he would be shocked at my various adventures, I’m sure.”

"Well, if we were going to compare notes to shock your brother, I think we'd be at it for days, and you wanted your paycheque for that Armani, so..." Tony gestured towards the monitor.

Loki laughed. “Indeed...” He looked back towards the monitor, leaning into Tony’s space, as he gave his full attention to Tony and his questions. And even the Rhodey on his shoulder wasn’t enough for Tony to pull away.

Loki hadn’t been spending all of his time with Tony. He did in fact have important things to do regarding the situation his people found themselves in. Being refugees on Earth was far from ideal, they needed their own land, and he had spoken with Amora about the possibility of raising an island somewhere in the ocean.

They had looked at various locations. It would need to be somewhere on a fault line, preferably somewhere with active volcanoes beneath the water. It would need to be far from other land masses, so as not to make other countries upset with Asgard being on their doorstep. It would also have to be large enough for their population to grow into.

Amora had suggested the Pacific, and upon looking over various sea charts and geographical data, he was sure they had found the perfect spot. Thor even liked the idea, it made sense to make a new home here. Earth was well connected to the rest of the realms, there should be no fighting over the land, and there would be no issue of removing people from already existing land to make room for them.

It was a solid proposal and he was confident that between himself and Amora it would be easy enough. They just needed to convince the humans that this was a marvellous idea.

Well, Thor had to convince them. Loki wasn’t sure they’d listen to him. He was quite sure most of the UN still suspected him of trying to take over the world. Especially the American and German representatives. They were giving him a very sour look over the video conference.

"As you can see, the proposed location along the rim of the Pacific plate is well outside of territorial waters. Attache Karnilladottir," Loki was still both surprised and impressed Thor hadn't given Amora's cover away to date. He'd understood how useful her position was, even if he hadn't been happy about the deception, "has confirmed that the two closest land masses are the Easter Islands of Chile, and the Galápagos of Ecuador. Both of which are more than 500 miles respectively from the proposed site. If there is anywhere on this world we might make a home, without overly disrupting your own people, this is it," Thor finished their presentation with his arms splayed wide, his most friendly and unthreatening smile plastered on his face.

Loki watched the reactions of the members of the UN. He would put his money on the American to speak first. They didn’t like the idea, it was clear as day, and a few others seemed dubious as well. Loki could see they trusted Thor, but they did not trust him.

“So - you expect us to let him,/i> raise an island, and we’re to believe that he won’t cause a tsunami or earthquakes all along the Ring of Fire? We’re supposed to believe that after New York, he’ll care about causing harm to humans?”

The Americans were so predictable at times. His gaze challenged Loki, staring straight at him, but Loki didn’t reply, didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at the question. The question was technically addressed to Thor, so he would let his brother reply.

When he glanced at Thor from the corner of his eye, the joviality was gone, and Thor looked every bit the insulted king. "And you believe I would champion a plan that puts not only the lives of untold innocent humans at stake, but my people as well? As though there is any possibility you would allow us to remain on your world, if we were doing so by virtue of harming others? This plan would take many months in order to ensure just such a calamity did not occur, and Tony Stark has kindly agreed to allow us to continue imposing upon his good will in that time, so that we may take the care required not to irreparably damage your world and ecosystems."

Loki allowed a small smirk at his brother's reply, as the diplomat was struck dumb. One of the others, the German ambassador, helped him out of the hole he had dug himself.

“I believe what Ambassador Jones is trying to say, is that Prince Loki caused significant harm on American soil. He murdered a few people with his own hands, and caused the deaths of many others, both directly and indirectly. And we have not had any form of apology for those actions. Nor have we heard an apology for his actions in Stuttgart.” Loki liked this Ambassador better, she had a level head. Her gaze upon him was accusatory, but not hostile.

“With his history of violence and disregard for human casualties, and his lack of remorse, we are concerned about having him here on Earth.”

Thor grimaced at the mention of apologies. "My brother isn't one for making apologies, he's very good at justifying his actions to himself. That said, his concern now is for the future of our people, and he well knows that purpose would not be served by betraying me or these negotiations."

"I've spent a great deal of time looking at the maps with Prince Loki, and going over this proposed plan to ensure it doesn't violate any sovereign waters. He gave no indication of ill intention towards us, just a concern for the future of his people," Amora added in an exceedingly reasonable tone. One Loki had no doubt would subdue Ambassador Jones, but the German Ambassador wouldn't be so easily swayed. Amora's magic had always worked best on those that saw themselves as entirely male.

“I am not denying that the plan seems sound. The location is good, however, the fact remains that Prince Loki is a threat to Earth as far as I am concerned. Germany had a man like him. One who cared deeply for his people, and was very good at justifying his actions to both himself and the people who trusted him. That man was responsible for countless atrocities that, in his eyes, were for the ‘greater good’.” She stared at Thor, now, eyes hard. “If he is not sorry, how can we be sure that he will not do something in the future that he sees as justifiable? How can we trust him going forward?”

Loki had wondered how long it would take before the ‘Hitler’ card was played.

"I ask you to trust me, and that I would not agree to any plans that would harm the innocent. He has even offered to leave this world, if it would make settling here easier for our people, but I have declined his offer. His help here is too important in our current situation, and if any deal for us to remain will be contingent upon his immediate departure, then I'm afraid the rest of Asgard, and our knowledge, will be forced to depart with him," Thor stated matter-of-factly.

Agent Ross finally spoke up from where he'd been standing quietly in the corner, watching the proceedings. "No need to be hasty, King Thor, perhaps some other arrangement can be made." He looked at the Ambassadors on the UN Security Council, giving that solicitous smile Loki seemed to see on all American spies of status. "The prince has already shown he's willing to help protect people from other dangers, even without being asked. And we still don't know where that giant iguana came from, but the scientists are certain it wasn't natural."

Loki listened as they discussed the ‘incident’ with the giant iguana, and there was a not so subtle hint that at least a few of them thought he had been involved somehow. He rolled his eyes at the accusation and let his brother shoot it down. Loki was amused how they were all quite happy to talk about him, but none of them had spoken to him yet.

The meeting finished not long after and he was quite proud of himself, holding his tongue the whole time. He looked to Thor as they left, and smiled a bit. “I think that went as well as it could have.”

Thor stopped walking away from the meeting rooms to give him a look. With the eye-patch, he appeared unsettlingly like Odin, and Loki took a moment to thank the Grandmaster - wherever he'd ended up - for shoring off Thor's hair and reducing any further resemblance.

"Well it certainly could have gone worse, I suppose."

Loki raised an eyebrow at the look. “Of course it could have gone worse. They could have demanded my head on a platter. They could have wanted me in prison. There are a lot of things they could have tried to demand from you regarding me.” Thor was still giving him the look. “And don’t give me that look - you look frighteningly like father.”

Thor rolled his remaining eye and began walking again, clearly expecting Loki to keep pace. He'd have stayed put out of sheer contrariness, if it weren't for the fact Thor was headed in generally the same direction he was.

"Yes, but you hardly do anything to make things easier, do you?"

“I didn’t say a word out of turn!” Loki said indignantly. He thought he’d been impeccably behaved and very polite in his presentation.

"No, you hardly spoke, which was to my benefit, because I have no doubt you'd have been incapable of a sincere apology, even if it was their only demand." Was it progress that Thor just sounded more exasperated at that fact than angry?

“Of course. I mean I could apologise for a few things. For example, ‘I’m sorry I got caught’, ‘I’m sorry I got my spine bashed in by the Hulk’.” He thought about it for a few moments, he wasn’t sure he was truly sorry for anything that happened when he came to Earth. The fact was, it happened, at the time he'd felt he needed to cause as much damage and chaos as he could at the time to disappear in. It hadn’t gone exactly to plan, but there was nothing he could do to change it now.

Thor sighed, saying resignedly, "You are one of the most selfish creatures I have ever encountered. I suppose I should be grateful it makes it easier to divine your motives these days."

“I only put a few people before myself, that is true,” Loki admitted, and it had served him well so far. “But those I put before me, I will protect until my last breath. My true friends, my children, my spouses. I am anything, but selfish when it comes to those I care about.”

That got Thor to stop abruptly. "Children, spouses?!"

Loki kept walking and he grinned as he continued. “Yes, you know, you don’t know everything about me.”

"Loki." Thor quickly caught up with him. "Ádís is the closest I have yet come to being an uncle, by the Norns, of what do you speak?"

“You have been an uncle more than that,” Loki said. “I just couldn’t tell you. I doubt father would have reacted well to my marrying humans.”

"Humans? But... I thought you found the humans to be beneath you?" It was good to see that he could still wrong-foot Thor in some ways.

“Oh no,” Loki said, shaking his head. “Idiots are beneath me - human or aesir. There are just more idiots on Earth because the population is bigger.”

"I... cannot fault that logic. There are a great many humans in this century."

“Admittedly I used to think they were all stupid... until I met Ulfric. Maybe one day I will tell you about him and our three children.” Loki smiled a bit at that. He had never told Thor about his times on Earth, it was something he’d kept private for so long, but... well, he was enjoying the relationship he and his brother were forming. Loki felt like they were really getting to know each other for the first time. “And I just didn’t like Jane, you can do better.”

Thor grimaced. "Jane is a good and worthy woman, we are just... not suited. It took some time for both of us to realise that what we had was fleeting and born of circumstances."

“I suppose... I just found her a little... dull.” Loki always thought it a pity to find a human with no spark. Their lives were so short, and those he was attracted to always shined brighter than those around them. Like Tony, Tony shone like a star compared to anyone around him. Not that Loki would tell him that right now, it’d likely go to his head.

"You approved when she slapped you. I think it was the most words you said to each other," Thor smiled wryly.

“I was surprised when she slapped me. I was surprised a lot those few days. Her slapping me, you putting cuffs on me and throwing me out of a ship.” Loki sighed, “I still can’t believe you left me on Svartalfheim.”

"I thought you dead, and the portals were closing! I was going to come back for your body, but then the Einherjar had supposedly finished the job first." Thor gave him another look for that.

“I was dead - I think - but still, I was hurt when I woke up,” he said with amusement. “And then the Einherjar gave me the perfect opportunity to get out of being in that damn cell. Seriously Thor, ‘help me avenge what happened, and then I’m putting you back in this cell to rot.’ What a wonderful prospect.”

"Honestly, I didn't expect either of us to survive," Thor admitted with a shrug.

“Well that’s cheerful. Anyway...” They stopped in the corridor where they would part ways so Loki could go find Tony in his lab. “I need to go see Tony, let him know that the German ambassador compared me to Hitler. I’m sure he’ll find it amusing, and then I need to earn my keep. I found some more things on the internet I would like to purchase.”

"You continue purchasing things, and there will not be space left in your suite for Bruce or Ádís," Thor teased with a grin, seeming happy to accept the change to a lighter topic.

“I don’t buy all these things for myself, you know. Ádís is a growing girl, she needs clothes and the schoolroom needs books... and I also bought a new pot for my project.” Loki grinned, he hadn’t told Thor about the apple sapling yet. It was going to need a bigger pot soon. “My little tree is growing nicely.”

"Your tree? When did you take up gardening?"

“When I lived in France the second time,” Loki said, his grin widening. “I wasn’t sure I would be able to get the thing to grow... Idunn’s trees are notoriously fickle.”

"Idunn's... You are growing an apple tree? I had thought they were all lost." It really was fun surprising Thor like this.

“The trees were all lost, but I had five golden apples. I kept them in stasis just in case, while I impersonated father. I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure it would grow. I didn’t want to raise your hopes that we could keep a little piece of home with us here, and then find it to be a failure.” Loki smiled fondly, “I guess all the reading I did about magic and history when we were children paid off.”

Thor's expression went soft as he said, "Mother would be proud..."

Loki felt his throat tighten a little at those words. He was speechless for a moment before he replied softly, “I hope that she would be...” He missed her terribly, regretted the last words he said to her. But there was nothing he could do now, all he could do was try to move forward. “Right, I’m going to go, before this gets too sentimental. I’ll speak with you later, brother.”

Clapping Loki on the shoulder, Thor gave a small chuckle before turning to part ways. "Until later, brother."

Loki smiled and watched Thor leave before he turned himself to go find Tony.

Loki was looking dubiously at the portable MRI machine within the trailer, and Tony felt the immediate need to defend himself and the technology. "What, we've already gone over how this works twice, and I even made those special noise cancelling earbuds for you."

Loki looked from the MRI machine back to Tony. “It’s just... it’s so... primitive and noisy. And I can’t imagine it’s going to be exciting.” He looked back at the machine. “This is going to be very boring. I want a bonus, you can call it my ‘tedium bonus’ if you’d like.”

Tony could hardly argue with the noisy and boring parts, so he just grinned back amused. "A 'tedium bonus', and just how much is this bonus going to be, Mr Armani?" He knew Loki had bought the suit, but he hadn't had a chance to see him in it yet. Tony was certain Loki would look every bit the elegant prince.

“Hm, how about I see how bored I am and then make my demand?”

"Some people say they find the machines hypnotic and nap while being scanned."

“Somehow I doubt I shall be one of them,” Loki said with a sigh, looking back at the machine. “Come on, let us start my torture.” He looked at Tony, his expression almost too innocent as he asked, “Should I be naked when I get in for the baseline?”

That... was a ridiculously tempting image, in any other setting but one as clinical as this. "You didn't wear anything with metal in it, did you?" He was sure he had warned Loki not to.

“No, I didn’t.”

"Then, as pretty as the view might be, I think you should probably save yourself an unfortunate meeting with a cold table and keep the clothes on." Tony smiled wryly and went to start setting the machine up.

Loki got onto the table, laying down to get comfortable with an amused smile. “You think the view would be pretty, do you?”

Tony grinned as he handed Loki the special earbuds. "Fishing for compliments now?"

“I don’t need to fish, I know I’m hot. I just wasn’t sure you had taste.”

"I feel like I should be offended," but Tony couldn't stop grinning as Loki got settled and he clipped the stabilising frames into place.

“This is very uncomfortable,” Loki grumbled. “How long is this going to take?”

"Well, we're not doing a detail scan on your brain, this is for a higher level of your general physiology, but since it's head to toe... Probably about an hour and a half. We could split it into two halves if you'd rather, waist up and then waist down or vice versa."

Loki gave a melodramatic sigh. “No, no, let us get it over with... but there will be a bonus, I will spend my time in this machine thinking of what that could be.”

"I can think of better things to fantasise about." Tony gave his grin a lascivious tilt as he looked down at Loki on the table.

“Who said that won’t feature in my thoughts?” Loki said with a grin. “I did invite you into my bed, you know, and you never appeared.”

The grin slipped from Tony's face to reveal his surprise before he could stop it. He'd thought Loki hadn't been awake enough to even remember making the offer. "I wasn't sure if you were serious. You were rather sleep drunk, and I make a point not to take advantage of a person's incapacitation." A wry smile twisted his lips as he added, "I can usually make enough bad decisions for everyone involved."

Loki looked at him for a moment and then he smiled a little. “I appreciate that,” he said and then turned his attention back to the MRI, “but I knew my own mind well enough, and was thoroughly disappointed that you didn’t join me.” He pursed his lips and then looked at Tony curiously once more. “Had I not been so tired... would you have taken me up on the offer?”

"Then... It was tempting, so probably. Though I'd have regretted if it made things at all awkward between us afterward. You're a lot chattier in the lab than Bruce, I enjoy our debates."

“Sex should never make friendship awkward,” Loki said, visibly relaxing a bit. “I don’t recall ever having a tryst that ended in awkwardness.” He frowned and then amended. “Well except the first time... but I think that is a universal truth.”

Tony chuckled as he started sliding the table into the machine. "Probably is, that tends to be the general expectation here as well."

“At least I had the pleasure of Freya for my second outing. The Goddess of Sex, Battle and Pleasure knows a trick or two.” As Loki was slid into the machine, he gave a small chuckle. “Thor was very upset when she turned him down at the Spring Festival that year and took me to her bed instead.”

"I'll bet he was, especially since he has a reputation as a fertility god in his own right." Tony chuckled at that, he imagined Thor must have gained the reputation in a manner similar to his own Playboy rep. But reputations were often exaggerated for effect. These days, his certainly was.

“He only has that reputation because he was crown prince.” Great amusement snuck into Loki’s voice. “I got my reputation through deeds and not flights of fancy. I am not called the ‘God of Mischief’ for nothing you know.”

"Oh," Tony started for the partitioned room at the opposite end of the trailer, where the control console was, "I'm quite certain of that Tigger."

“Tigger?”

"Look it up on the internet when you're finished being bored," Tony teased and started humming the Wonderful Thing About Tiggers tune under his breath as he closed himself in the compartment.

Tony’s first scan had taken about 90 minutes. The results were what Loki had expected, mostly. One ovary, one testicle, everything fully formed and workable, which was presumably why he could both birth children and engender them. There was an organ neither of them recognised, which made Loki curious, something from his frost giant heritage, no doubt, and his heart was not where he had expected it to be.

“Well...” Loki said, momentarily at a loss for any other words as he looked at the scan, spotting the marks of injury over his long life. The broken bones in his legs, from his fall from the Bifrost. The scarring through his torso, from where he was run through on Svartalfheim. The scarring around his spine, from his meeting with the Hulk.

“I suppose having my heart further to the side saved my life on Svartalfheim.” He had wondered how he had survived. Loki was quite sure he was dead that day, sure that he would either be greeting his mother in the afterlife, or serving in the underworld as one of the dishonoured dead.

He had hoped his noble sacrifice would have ensured the former, but he supposed he preferred being alive to either outcome.

"Yeah, if your heart was where an average human's was, you'd have lost the right atrium and a whole bunch of primary connections. I'm still impressed you didn't bleed out from the number of vessels that were at least partially cut, based on the layout of the scar tissue." Tony rubbed his hand over his chest, where Loki knew the glowing reactor had once sat.

"The only reason I survived the mutilation of that many vessels and the structure around them, was a modified version of Extremis." Tony frowned as he fell deeper into thought. "Come to think of it, the results of the unmodified Extremis protocol produced results strikingly similar to how you described the jotunn of Muspelheim, only less stable."

“Hmm, ‘Stable’ is not a word I would use for the Fire Giants.” He looked at Tony curiously. “But what is ‘Extremis’?”

"It's a nanotech genetic modification protocol designed to heal injuries the human body wouldn't otherwise be able to recover from, like regrowing a limb... or bone too damaged to salvage." There was that absent-minded rub at Tony's chest again.

"But it also tended to 'fix' other things as well, so it was being used by a group trying to create their own super soldiers," and there was the grimace that flashed across Tony's face any time anyone made a passing reference to the absent Captain. "In trying to do too much with it, though, the people they used it on tended to overheat... very literally. Eventually, if they weren't good at controlling it or lost control, they'd explode." Tony's lips quirked wryly as he looked back at Loki. "I don't suppose the jotunn have that problem."

“Well... no. They would explode, but their bodies would remain intact - Do you mean to tell me that some fool thought it was a good idea to put that power into a mortal body?” He stared at Tony, trying to process what he had been told, and then it dawned on him. “And then you did this to yourself? You - Tony Stark, I knew you were a man who gave in to some poor life choices, but this just-” Mortals. Loki couldn’t even be angry at the idea that Tony had done this. It was just that mortals tended to make such foolish choices at times. He knew if Ulfric had had this power dangled in front of him, he would have taken it. Not for glory, not for power, but to protect his people and their village. Loki muttered. “Norn’s save me from mortal men...”

"Hey, no," Tony pointed at him emphatically. "I had to figure out how to deactivate the thing before it blew Pepper up, because that asshole Killian infected her with it. And when I did so, I figured out how to make it very targeted and short lived. Rather than 'unleashing the unlocked potential of lost human lineage', I just used it to make sure I didn't die on the operating table, thank you very much."

Loki stared at him a moment and shook his head. “Well... if there was no other way. I just... it has been my experience that mortals do not always make the best choices. But then - you know I think your species rubs off on others. Most of my most foolish decisions were done because of, or for, a mortal. Sometimes both.” He turned his attention back to the scan, eyes running over the few surprises. Loki wanted to know what the ‘mystery organ’ was and what it did. He didn’t remember seeing anything like that in his anatomy text books about anyone in the Nine Realms, but he didn't remember that anyone had much information about either type of jotunn.

Tony tapped a pen against his desk thoughtfully. "You had kids with humans... Do you think it's possible you're not the only the only jotunn that did?"

Loki supposed it wasn’t impossible, but he hadn’t ever heard of it happening. “Well, both types of jotunn made their way to earth on several different occasions. I have never heard of it, but then, it’s not like I told anyone about my own children.”

"If shapeshifting isn't just a you thing, but more of a general jotunn thing, that might account for it." He pointed at the unidentified organ on the scans. "My best guess is that is a jotunn thing as well, but what it's for... I could only speculate at this point."

“Is there any way to find out, do you think?” He looked to Tony curiously. “I find I wish to find out a bit more about my physiology, it wasn’t ever something I looked into too deeply.” But he certainly wasn’t going to go ask the frost giants about it. He would stay as far away from those savages as he could manage.

"To find out for certain? Nothing with human medicine that isn't at least moderately invasive. I wish we had something as comprehensive as those soul forges you mentioned, and Healer Haelga has spoken of. Though it could be worth discussing with her anyway, she's got some spells she was using with Rhodey since she doesn't have a forge."

“Hmmm,” Loki said thoughtfully. “You know... King Frey has some soul forges. It felt like I was never out of the damn things when I spent a few years there.”

"...Were you ill while you were there?"

“No, I was fine, but King Frey wished to make sure his child was growing well. Which he was. I gave birth to a perfectly healthy little boy.”

"You had a king's baby?" If Tony was trying to hide his surprise, he didn't do a very good job. "Well... that's quite the side-step from random human kids."

“It was a favour...” and Loki paused, it had been a favour. A very large favour in fact.

He was still owed one in return.

“He is a friend. His wife was unable to have children, I stepped in.” Loki grinned, “Well, more that I fell into a - what is the term? A sandwich?”

Tony chuckled at that. "That's one colloquialism for it."

“It was a fun few years. I should take you to visit, I think you’d enjoy the company of the elves. They’re... a unique people, and their planet is beautiful.”

"Elves... as in like Tolkien book elves, tall and burly and ageless, or Tolkien movie elves, tall, willowy and pretty, or short and stubby like Santa's elves?"

Loki laughed. “Like both Tolkien versions actually. Alfheim has two elven races, much like Earth once had two human races. But on Alfheim they both stuck around. The ‘burly’ elves live on the forest floor, they consider themselves to be ‘of the Earth’, and the ‘willowy’ elves live in the trees and consider themselves to be ‘of the sky’. King Frey is ruler of them all - but he is of the pretty variety. Long golden hair, silver eyes, legs to die for... and his lovely wife has darker blond hair, silver eyes, and a voice that would make you melt.”

Tony glanced at him, probably trying to be nonchalant. "Are you trying to make me envious of your escapades?"

“Not particularly, I just give those I sleep with their due. King Frey would be very upset if I did not sing his praises.” He smiled, looking at Tony now. “I think I have a trip to Alfheim in my not so distant future... perhaps you will find an offer you like.”

He turned his attention back to the scan. “But before that, we have more scans to do.”

"I was thinking the tiger next, but we can leave that until tomorrow, after I've calibrated my sound-cancelling device, and uploaded today's results into the files for our baseline." Tony looked at him thoughtfully. "Unless you want to compare aesir-ish you to human-ish you? I'm not sure how much difference there will be."

“I’m not sure... but what I am curious about is my feminine form... I know I can have children, but I wonder about the anatomy and how it compares to ‘default’ me.” He looked at Tony and smiled. “What do you think? I do wish to sate my own curiosity, but it is you who is paying me for these scans after all.”

Tony waved the concerns about money away. "As many scans as you're willing to go through this week without getting a migraine, I'm happy to have. It’ll be interesting to compare and see if when you're female, you're fully anatomically female, or if it's more of just an exterior change." He pulled up one of series of images that focused on Loki's reproductive organs. "You definitely have something different going on hormonally here, than humans do. If you're fertile in this form that is? Because for us, the balance to make an ovary work would negate the ability for a testicle to work, and yet you seem to have one of each fully formed."

“I’ve never had or engendered a child in this form, so I’m honestly not sure. I don’t know if I need to be one or the other to be fertile, if one shuts down or some such. Now that I know I am not just an abnormality, I am eager to find out more.”

"It's hard with a sample of one to narrow some things down, since I can only compare to other species and look for the similarities and differences across the forms you can take."

“Well, I have many descendants in Europe. I have kept tabs on some of them. Most of my living relatives are in France or England. Then there is my nephew, Prince Solnar. We can definitely get a sample from him.”

"Well, comparing you, him, and someone who's entirely elven might reveal a few things that the rest of our tests can't," Tony murmured thoughtfully.

“Well then, I will need to arrange it. For now...” Loki shifted into his female form, what he considered his default feminine form. “You shall need to strap me into the table once more.” His voice changed, not by much, but it was just a little softer, a little huskier. “Will this take as long as before?”

Tony's eyes flicked appreciatively over his form, before focusing on the task at hand. "Depends on how much we want to compare. If it's just the lower pelvic region, we can probably be done in half an hour. If you want another head-to-toe comparison so you can see if your heart and the rest is still the same or not, it'll be about the same as before."

Loki didn’t let the grin reach his face when he noticed Tony’s appreciative look. The first time he’d shown Tony this form he had wondered if he preferred it, but now he realised it was just a novelty whenever he showed it off, and that Tony seemed to like him as he usually was just as much as his feminine form. “Let's do the lower pelvic region first... and then perhaps we can do more.”

With a chuckle Tony led the way back toward the MRI machine. "See how bored you are, you mean?"

“Well yes. It’s very boring, and when I get bored, I get destructive.” Loki smiled, “Though I suppose a few fantasies will pass the time... me, Frey, his lovely wife Lindul...” Loki grinned. “And a certain mortal I could name.”

"All four of us? That sounds as exhausting as it does intriguing."

“Not so exhausting when you have the right spells to keep stamina levels high. And the right equipment.”

Tony looked over his shoulder expressly to quirk a brow at Loki. "Dare I even ask?"

“Don’t tell me you’ve never used a sex swing? Marvellous for taking pressure off joints.” Loki sat on the table once more, laying back. “They have those here, right?”

"...You, sir, are a horrible tease."

Loki laughed, grinning at Tony. He contemplated inviting Tony to his bed once more, but he wasn’t sure Tony would take him seriously. “Only if I never intend to follow through.”

"I'll keep that in mind..." And this time it sounded like Tony actually would. Promising.

Chapter Text

"Whoever it is that is making these things, I have one question for them when we find them."

"Why they're trying to recreate a bad knock-off of Godzilla in real life?" Rhodey returned over the comms as he sent some of his missiles flying, the noise of their launching audible in the background.

"Not a bad choice," Tony conceded, "but no. Ten legs! Spiders are bad enough with the eight they already have, why add two more before you blow the thing up to 15 stories tall?" He wasn't sure if the comms were conveying his displeasure really well enough, so as he flew between said legs, focusing on one of them with his repulsor blasts, he added, "I mean seriously, ten?!"

“I do not care where or how it came to be. Just kill it,” Loki said over the comm.

"Vis, try and harry the thing a bit more to the right. We want to get it back out to the coast rather than the bay. I will be extra annoyed if it steps on the Opera House, it's the best thing about Sydney."

“If it comes anywhere near the Opera House, I will come find you and punch you. I am protecting as many civilians as I can, but if that thing comes near here, I will not be held responsible for my actions.”

"What are you doing at the Opera House? I thought you were headed further upriver to keep this thing from going inland!" Tony changed direction to go help Vision, since the creature seemed more annoyed by him than actually inclined to turn away.

“Oh - please forgive me - shall I tell the group of terrified nursery children and their guardians that I have a job to do further up the river?”

"Another fieldtrip?" It was all Tony could do not to burst out laughing.

“Oh shut up,” Loki huffed over the comm. “Yes another - what - oh - no, James, go over to your - please let go of my leg. Your teacher is right-” Tony heard a child begin to cry over the comm. “Oh for the - fine, yes fine, you can stay there...”

"Right, team, you heard the man. Keep this thing away from the toddler patrol." So, a bit of laughter might have made it into that, and he could afford to be happy, the giant arachnid had finally turned out toward the coast. Now they just needed to get the giant arachnid to the beach, where Thor was waiting with a storm brewing to fry it.

“Ugh... why did it have to have ten legs?” Loki asked with despair. “No - Jennifer, don’t - alright, this is fine - Tony please hurry, I am acquiring children to my person. And I see people with cameras... why are they here with cameras? Surely, they should be fleeing - yes, hello... no... oh... well... No, I’m sorry, I’m not available for the evening.”

"Is someone hitting on you?!" Tony let off a volley of repulsor blasts, trying to hurry the beast along, since they didn't seem to do enough to get through the exoskeleton and actually destroy it. And he really didn't want to have to try a repeat of his tactic of being eaten by the leviathans in New York for the same reason.

“Yes,” Loki replied. “Oh - well thank you -” Loki paused and Tony could hear someone speaking, but not exactly what they were saying. “I do moisturise daily - but this isn’t really the time to be discussing my skin regime. Is this your little one? Ten months, what about - oh... really? With his secretary? Oh, you can do so much better.”

"Oh for-"

"Tony, stop being jealous over the comms, and shoot this thing," Rhodey commanded him dryly, doing the same.

That was when Tony realised he had come to a stop hovering in mid-air.

"You can go back to trying to flirt your way into Loki's pants when we're done here," Rhodey added, and no, that was not an indignant splutter from Tony into the comms as he sprang back into action. It was just signal interference as he darted behind a building to avoid one of the webs this thing shot at him.

"When you children are ready," Valkyrie drawled over the comms, "Hulk and I are in position to redirect this thing past the park and onto the beach. Thor's got a damn good storm waiting out here as well."

Tony did some quick calculations with the HUD. "We're about 5 minutes out at our current pace."

“Good,” Loki said. “I will see you soon. Make sure you zap it to oblivion...”

When the charred corpse of the giant spider was curled up on Bondi Beach and the danger was over, Tony headed towards the Opera House - ostensibly on web spotting duty - even though the spider had never made it quite that far west. Which was thanks to Loki expending quite a bit of energy to teleport them all there, rather than the hours it would have taken by quinjet from New York. Which, if anyone argued, made a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he was hurrying off to check up on Loki, that had nothing to do with flirting parents and nursery teachers.

When Tony Landed and entered the Opera House, he found Loki sitting on a bench with one of the parents beside him, the children all sitting in front of him, listening to him talk.

“And so, I changed my form to be more feminine, but my brother - he is too... masculine for that to work. So, we hid in the wedding party. I had to just put a veil over his face to cover his beard, and then we managed to steal Mjolnir back from Vanaheim.”

Tony's helm retracted as he walked towards them. "Hey Tigger, acquiring a fan club?"

Loki grinned as the children’s attention turned from him to Tony. “It’s Ironman!” one of them shouted, and they got up and rushed Tony.

“I don’t know - they seem to have found a better hero, Tinman.” Loki smiled as the children swarmed Tony.

Chuckling as the kids swarmed him, he looked down at them with a smile. "No autographs today, kiddos, don't have a pen on me."

A collective ‘Aww’ rose from the children and Loki smiled. “Perhaps he can return in the future, when he has found his pen.”

One of the children turned and looked at Loki. “Will you come back? I want to hear more stories.”

“So do I,” one of the parents said, giving Loki a very interested look.

Tony clenched his teeth as he forced the smile to stay on his face, waiting to see what Loki's reaction would be. He was not jealous, they weren't a 'thing', so he didn't have any right to be. And yet...

Loki gave her a pleasant smile. “I am sure I could take some time out of my busy schedule...”

"Speaking of busy schedules, Loki, your presence was requested to inspect the carcase for signs of magic. I came to offer a ride back to the beach if you weren't up to teleporting."

“A ride would be nice,” Loki said. “I am quite tired. Shields of the size I made take a lot of energy to maintain.”

Tony swallowed down the retort that was on the tip of his tongue. Pepper would have his hide if he made the papers for making obscene comments in front of small children. "Well, better say goodbye to your fanclub then and we'll head out."

“Of course,” Loki moved to the parent that had been ogling him and kissed her on the hand. “Be well, hopefully I will see you next in better circumstances.”

She smiled at him as he moved towards Tony, the kids all waving as he got ready to leave.

As they walked out the entrance, Tony couldn't help commenting, "Well, you don't seem to have a PR problem here..."

“What can I say? I am very charming when people get to know me.”

That surprised a laugh from Tony. "Hmm, you might have a point there." He came to a stop and the helm folded up around his head, leaving only his face exposed. "So, do you actually want a lift to the beach, or were you just taking the convenient opening to leave?"

“Well, I am actually tired... and if I wish energy to do something else later, I would appreciate a lift.”

Tony put a foot forward and opened an arm wide. "Step right up for your ride, Tinkerbell."

Loki rolled his eyes. “I am neither blond, nor do I have wings,” he said as he stepped towards Tony. “Nor am I currently female...”

"But you are magical, with a penchant for green." With a grin, he wrapped his arm snuggly around Loki's waist, holding him to his side as he started up into the air.

Loki laughed, holding onto Tony. “I suppose... and I am a bitch at times, like she is.”

"I'd say something to that, but prima donnas in glass houses shouldn't cast stones." His grin growing wider, the faceplate snapped down into place.

Loki chuckled. “Very true... as long as you don’t make a joke about my performance, I think we will be just fine.”

"Been there, done that, worn the t-shirt of regret."

“Hmm... you know, I am sorry I threw you out of that window. I was having a very bad day.”

"Really?" Tony said in faux disbelief, because flying through the air over Sydney wasn't the time for a serious conversation about New York. "One could hardly tell, your cape game was on point."

“It was... as was my helm.”

"I don't know," Tony teased, "it rather screamed of overcompensating for something, horns that big."

Loki sighed. “I thought you weren’t going to make a ‘performance’ joke?”

"I never said what you were overcompensating for. Based on the way that battle went, it could have been the mindless ineptitude of your army. I mean their organisation did leave something to be desired if you were going for anything other than Godzilla-esque chaos... Though, at least they weren't spiders."

“Uugh... did you have to mention spiders?”

"Given we're about to land next to a giant one, it did seem apropos." Tony nodded to the curled up charred hulk of the spider as he circled around to find a good spot to land on the beach beside it.

Loki shuddered. “Awful... honestly, whoever made that thing is clearly deranged.”

"Well, see if you can find anything useful in identifying the thing - Bruce is already himself again and was going to take samples after he'd had a short rest - and then we can head for the hotel FRIDAY's booked us, and leave the clean-up to the locals." Tony gestured to the Sydney police, who had already cordoned off the beach from curious onlookers. As soon as the danger was over, people always came to look at the aftermath, it was human nature.

“Sounds good,” Loki said. “I need to call Ádís when we get to the hotel and let her know I’m okay. She was quite upset when I was away fighting the last time.”

"I can set the suit up so you can use it's camera and holo-emitters to video call her, if you think that would put her mind more at ease than a phone call." Tony's boots touched the ground, and he was more than a little pleased with how gentle the landing was. Half the time he didn't bother caring, but Loki seemed like the sort that would both appreciate the care after a long afternoon, and would appreciate how good his control of the suit needed to be to achieve it.

“Yes, that would be better, thank you.” Loki stepped off of his boot and smiled at him. “Smooth landing.” He looked at the spider and his nose wrinkled in disgust. “Oh, it’s even more horrific up close.”

"It was even worse flying around it while it squirted large acidic webs at me."

“Ugh... we need to find whoever is making these and put them out of their misery. Clearly there is something dreadfully wrong with their mind.”

"Well, let's see if your mojo can find anything."

There wasn’t much of note to be found on the creature. All he could tell was that it was magical in nature and it was Midgardian magic that was woven through the thing. He would need to research, but he wasn’t sure where to find anything about Midgard’s magic. It wasn’t something he ever really studied.

They made their way back to the hotel when Loki was satisfied that he had all the information he could get from the creature. Tony set up the call to Ádís so he could reassure her that he was fine and he would be back soon. When he finished the call, Loki looked at Tony. He was tired, magic could take a toll, but compared to last time he was much more awake. Tony was stretching out his neck, his hand rubbing the muscles and Loki smiled.

He got up, walking to Tony, making sure he wasn’t too quiet as he walked so he didn’t startle him. He rested his hands gently on Tony’s shoulders, thumbs making a slow circle over his skin. “Would you like me to release some of that tension?” he asked, his mouth near Tony’s ear.

"Mmm, you and those clever fingers of yours can do just about anything you like if you keep making the muscles feel that much better." Tony relaxed almost bonelessly into Loki's touch, clearly enjoying it without hesitation.

Loki smiled, his hands still moving over the muscles, weaving just a hint of magic in to assist the muscles in relaxing. “You should be careful what you say... I would like to do so many things... but we do not have a week to spare.” He leaned in, kissing Tony’s neck, just below his ear. “I want to feel your hands on me as well... I want to feel your lips around me...” he nipped Tony’s neck with his teeth. “I want you to leave marks, I want to feel you in me... so many things...” he said again, his hands moving down over Tony’s back, the tingle of magic continuing.

Which of course was the moment Loki felt an unpleasantly familiar flare of heat and Midgard-based magic right behind him.

"Loki, get your hands off him, or you shall find yourself falling for far longer than 30 minutes."

Loki sighed and turned towards him. “Why, do you wish to have sex with him?”

Tony turned around and leaned on Loki's shoulder, looking past him at Doctor Strange. "Loki, darling, are you familiar with our cock-blocking interrupter, who's mysteriously managed to get into our suite?

Strange scoffed. "Sleeping with the enemy, Stark? That seems particularly lower brained, even for you."

"One, unless you've missed the memo, he's not the enemy anymore. He's particularly trending well on social media with moms. It's the whole 'good with kids' thing. And two, what business is it of yours? Pepper would never hire me a new personal assistant with such... eccentric fashion sense."

“This is Dr Stephen Strange - a would-be wizard.”

"Master of the Mystic Arts, and Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, actually," Strange grumbled his retort with more than a bit of irritation.

"Never heard of you. Do you have a show in Vegas?"

"I am a protector of the Earth against forces greater than you could comprehend."

"Huh, if you're so fabulous, got any leads on that giant funnel web we were fighting earlier?"

"That's not the threat I'm here about."

Ignoring Strange, Tony looked to Loki. "Seems like this guy needs to get his priorities in order. Also, thoughts on kicking him out?"

Loki stared at Strange for a few moments. Last time, he hadn’t been ready for there to still be a Sorcerer Supreme on Midgard. He hadn’t heard of one in generations. Loki supposed they went into hiding as humanity marched towards science and technology, and got tired of being shunned.

He was ready this time, he knew Strange couldn’t use his stupid portals on him anymore, but he could just teleport back into the room if Loki kicked him out.

“What do you want?” he asked after a few moments, “and make it quick.”

Strange narrowed his eyes at Loki. "I'm trying to figure out what you're up to. You've been surprisingly difficult to track down this time, even with your appearances on the evening news."

“Oh dear, could the poor Earth wizard not find me through my wards?” Loki grinned at him. “I was prepared this time. Last time I came to Earth, I had no idea you still had your type here. I thought you were all wiped out generations ago. The only mages I know of that are still around are ones that aren’t quite human.”

"If you weren't up to something, you wouldn't have anything to hide."

“Oh yes, because hiding means you’re up to something. Tell me, how goes your world domination plan? Coming along well?” Loki already wanted to punch this man. He wondered how anyone put up with him.

"We're not hiding, we just... don't advertise ourselves. There's a difference." Strange crossed his arms. "And you haven't answered the question."

"Based on your attempted interrogation here, and total lack of respect for the privacy of a legally booked hotel suite,” Tony drawled, “it sounds to me like whatever mojo Loki's done to block your spying was to protect his privacy from a known threat."

“Exactly, I didn’t want to be falling through an abyss for thirty minutes again without warning. All I have done while I have been here is help my people, and help yours by protecting innocents. What I am up to, is trying to secure a home for my people.”

"And get a piece of my ass, which for the record, I'm a-ok with. So, if you wouldn't mind..." Tony made a shooing motion at Strange.

Strange crossed his arms with a disgusted scoff. "If he decides to eviscerate you for the enjoyment of it, it'll be nothing less than you deserve."

"Yes, yes, whatever. Unless you're going to help out with the more pertinent threat of magically mutated animals attacking seaside cities, you can just move along, David Copperfield."

Apparently done dealing with Tony, Strange met Loki's gaze. He didn't have anything else to say really, so he just waited with a quirked brow, to see what other drivel the magician had to say. It was boringly predictable.

"Watch yourself, Loki, I will be keeping an eye on you," and then with a wave of his hands, one of his portals opened, and Strange stepped through, as though he'd never been in the room at all.

Loki rolled his eyes. “Honestly... that man is insufferable.” Loki turned to Tony, shaking his head. As if he was supposed to be worried about him. It was an absurd notion. “But... enough about him. Where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?”

Tony grinned, looping his arms around Loki's waist. "You and your magic fingers were turning me into a happy pile of goo."

“Ah yes, your memory is impeccable,” Loki leaned in, kissing Tony deeply, wrapping his arms around his neck. It felt good having him pressed up against his body. Something he had wanted to do for some time now, but hadn’t had an opportunity. And now here they were, and they would have several uninterrupted hours. Just as long as Strange didn’t interrupt them again.

As their lips parted, Tony gave a contented hum, before asking, "Do you think we need to put up any other protections against Peeping Tom, or will we be left alone for the remainder of the evening?"

“I am sure we will be left alone.” He kissed Tony again, backing him towards the bed. Tonight’s explorations wouldn’t be the best either of them had ever had, he knew that. The best sex was with a lover you knew well, and not when you were both half-exhausted. But it was always fun exploring.

He wasn't wrong, it wasn't anything particularly athletic, new or inventive, but it was nice. Despite how sore and tired he knew Tony was, the other man had been as invested in Loki's enjoyment as his own. That boded well for the future of their trysts, he thought. It was moments like this you got a sense for the kind of lover someone was at their core, when there was little extra energy to be spent on trying to impress.

The most surprising bit had come at the end, actually. When they were finished and resting still naked in bed. Loki had rolled on his side, wondering if Tony would be the type to want to talk or cuddle after sex, or if he preferred to just roll over and go to sleep. Before he could even broach the subject though, seemingly under the guise of settling his own pillow, Loki suddenly found Tony settled with his back pressed to Loki's own chest. His arm had wrapped around Tony's waist out of instinct and habit of past relationships, and Tony had relaxed back into him with a contented sigh.

Loki didn’t say a word, just enjoyed that Tony felt he could ask, without asking of course, to be held. It was something Tony did a lot. He tried his best to keep away from rejection. Perhaps that was part of why he didn’t come to Loki’s bed the last time Loki had propositioned him? Perhaps Tony was afraid that Loki hadn’t meant it in earnest?

Loki closed his eyes, enjoying having someone in his arms again. It had been a long time since he’d had someone in his bed to cuddle. Not that he hadn’t had sex, it was just, some men, especially men thought of as alpha males, wouldn’t want to be held.

“Goodnight,” Loki said softly, his finger tracing lazy circles on Tony’s stomach.

"Mmm," Tony mumbled, half asleep, and there was a great deal of satisfaction in knowing over these last months Tony had come to trust him enough to fall asleep so readily. " G'night Tigger."

Loki chuckled softly.

He had the feeling that nickname was going to stick.

Loki had been left to his own devices most of the day, which was a nice change of pace. Not that he didn’t enjoy spending time with Tony or the children, it was just that he rather liked a day to himself once in a while. Ádís was at lessons, Tony was off at some mind-numbing meeting, and Thor was dealing with the negotiations as per usual.

He was in his room, in the chair by the window, a notepad in his hand as he sketched the grounds. Loki liked sketching through a window, it gave a natural frame. Also, it was raining and he really couldn’t be bothered casting a shield just to stop himself getting wet. Today was his day off.

Hi peace was eventually disturbed by a knock on his door. It was a little over-hard, and with an edge of impatience, no doubt it was Thor. He sighed as he called out. “Come in brother.”

The door opened, and Thor immediately entered and walked straight over to the cabinet where Loki kept his small supply of liquor, pouring and downing a glass before he even turned to look at Loki himself.

“That better not be the good stuff,” Loki said as he set his sketchbook aside. “The expensive stuff is to be savoured.”

"It was the vodka." Thor picked the bottle up to show him, and more slowly poured himself another glass.

“Oh, well that’s alright then,” he said, eyeing his brother suspiciously. He wasn’t the type to drink anything stronger than beer or mead, but he seemed stressed. “Have a good afternoon of negotiating?”

Thor put the bottle away and brought the glass over to sit down opposite Loki before he replied. "These human politicians are like a nest of vipers. Tangled, unruly, and far more than a bit disagreeable."

Loki grinned at that. “What have they demanded this time?”

"They have agreed to our raising the island, but with more than a few conditions. Most of the trade and military truce agreements I cannot argue overly with - even if I must make some attempt at it so that our people are not unfairly disadvantaged - they do have the upper hand in numbers and resources, and we are refugees upon their lands. But..." Thor drank back half the glass, "they now insist the first structure we must spend our resources erecting on that island, is a prison to contain you for a sentence of no less than 100 of Earth's years. After which, if you have shown no further ill intent against their world, you may be paroled and live in peace on New Asgard, though any other nation may have the right to refuse you entry."

“Hmm... well it’s better than the sentence father set upon me I suppose.”

"Yes, but it completely disregards how important your skills are to us setting up our home with no more intervention from the humans than we must have, and thus be further in their debt." Thor frowned as he took a smaller and more reasonable sip. "The more infuriating are those that I am certain realise that fact, and are supporting the imprisonment not because they fear you, but because they wish to see us at every disadvantage possible."

“As a people, humanity will always do what is in their own best interest. Individuals are more reasonable...” Loki looked at his brother, regarding him for a few moments. He’d been thinking about their situation a lot over the past few days, about how they were always going to be refugees on Earth, he doubted they would ever be left in peace. He could only imagine the sanctions placed on them to ‘curtail’ their growth.

But he had been thinking about a possible plan B.

“Thor... how set are you on remaining here?”

Thor's frown grew deeper as he looked at Loki, trying to gauge the question. "It is another 8 months flight to make it to Vanaheim from here. I do not know that the ship is capable of carrying us all for that long with sufficient supply."

“But it is only four months to Alfheim,” Loki said quietly.

"Alfheim... But Loki, while I know the king and queen have a fondness for you, they do not have any sort of liking or kindness for the rest of Asgard, except perhaps where it is useful in trade, and we have scant little to trade with them. Out knowledge isn't worth as much to them as it is to the humans."

Loki knew it would be a hard sell. It was true that King Frey had no love for the Asgard nobility, but he actually had no problem with the common folk. Then there was the fact that Frey owed him a favour.

“He owes me a favour,” Loki said. He wasn’t going to outright say how the favour was owed. Nor that he had another bargaining chip up his sleeve.

"You've mentioned, when you offered to leave if that would help us. But there is a great difference between fulfilling a favour to a friend and housing them for a time, versus giving a homeless people a new land to start upon."

“Thor... the favour I am owed is no small favour. If I had gone to Alfheim myself to make your transition here on Earth easier, I would have asked for a private island and been granted it. There is also another favour he wants from me... and I have no doubt that he would give us a home to get it.”

Thor looked worried at that, rather than relieved. "I find I am immediately concerned at what the nature of this favour must be for King Frey to owe you so much."

“It is nothing I was unwilling to do,” Loki reassured him. “And the favour he wishes is one I am willing to do; I just have not had the time to do what he wishes in the past few years.”

"The fact that you avoid telling me what this favour actually is, is not reassuring."

“Because I am happy to call in the favour. It doesn’t matter what the favour actually is. Thor... trust me.”

Thor didn't answer for a moment, but with a sigh he finally nodded. "This does not, however, address their antipathy towards us. We would be trading one unfriendly and selfish neighbour for another, whom has been overtly hostile in the past."

“I’m not saying we will definitely do it... but I am saying it’s an idea. We can spend the next twelve months here, arguing with Midgard and its politicians. Or I can speak with Frey... and we can be in a new home in six months. Frey will be receptive. He doesn’t hate all Aesir, he hated the nobility and anyone closely related to father. Except me... he’s always liked me.”

"...So, you are saying he will primarily hate me and Heimdall, but the rest of our people whom survived aren't of concern to him." Thor grimaced before downing the rest of his glass. "You do not suppose we will have the opposite problem with Alfheim demanding my removal from our people instead our yours? If it is a better deal for our people, I would do it, but I do not wish them to think I am deserting them."

“No,” Loki said softly. And he had thought about it. Frey hated Odin, hated the throne, but he was a reasonable man, open to changing his mind. If Loki told him his brother had changed, he would give Thor a chance. “He puts a lot of weight in my opinion, Thor. If I tell him you have changed, he will give you a chance. And... if he put that as the stipulation for us going to Alfheim, we would not go. Our people need you Thor.”

Thor smiled wryly. "I must have changed a great deal these last years, for you of all people to say that."

“You have,” Loki said and he meant it. “You put your people first... not your own glory. You listen to those who would advise you, instead of pushing them away. You listen to me, instead of treating me like a child who should ‘know their place’. We have both changed, for the better I like to think.”

"I hope mother looks upon us from Valhalla and thinks we have grown into the men she wished us to become."

“I like to think she is... even if she will be cursing me somewhat for all the grandchildren she never got to meet. But then - she probably blames father for that.” Loki smiled. Had he been able to, he would have let his mother meet all of his children. But he didn’t want to put her in an awkward position with Odin.

Thor sighed at that. "It seems father has far more to answer for than I had ever realised..." He looked at Loki thoughtfully. "You didn't say King Frey just hated the nobility, you specifically said he hated those associated with father..."

Loki pursed his lips and nodded. “Yes... I didn’t know why before. I still don’t know for sure, as he and I never really discussed it. But... there are stories on Alfheim, Thor. Of a great war and a Black Witch with a Shining Throne behind her. Stories of a wolf that would swallow the world - similar to what you hear of Fenrir on Midgard. Stories of the dead rising from their graves. Sound familiar?”

That had Thor looking at his glass like he wished it wasn't empty. "Do you think our recent interactions with Hella will help or hurt our cause?"

“I think it will help,” Loki said. “King Frey will listen to me. I will tell him that we didn’t know about Hella, that it was hidden from us until our father passed. And the fact you stopped Malekith from destroying all light in the universe is bound to get some points in your favour. Also, coming to Earth and negotiating will sound very out of character. It is my impression that father and the other kings of Asgard just took what they wanted from the Nine Realms. Gold, people, ancient caskets of power, babies... you know, that sort of thing.”

"Knowing what I do now of Odin and Hella's... campaigns, I am left to wonder if we owe Jotunheim a debt we can never repay with the casket's loss when you fell..."

“Well... theoretically if it had not been lost, do you think it would make much difference to them after what I did to their planet? And to Laufey?”

"I do not know... But Heimdal has said Asgard is not the only realm the Nine is at risk of losing. What he can see suggests Jotunheim's end is just as sure as Asgards, if more drawn out. I know very little of magic, but it seems to me a loss of two realms cannot be good for the Yggdrasill. And one cannot help but wonder if the casket would have made a difference in averting their destruction."

Loki sighed. Maybe, if he was being totally honest with himself, maybe he regretted trying to destroy Jotunheim just a little bit. And now here Thor was, being reasonable about the monsters, when not too long ago he was set on destroying them all.

“Ugh... you and your conscience,” Loki huffed and he flicked his wrist, the Casket of Ancient Winters appearing on the table beside him. “But don’t touch it, it will freeze your fingers off.”

"Wait... what?" Thor looked in shock from the casket to Loki and back. "You've had it all this time?"

“Well obviously,” Loki said, rolling his eyes. “Like I would give up something so powerful once I had it. I just don’t use it very much, as it has an inconvenient side effect.”

"An inconvenient side effect?"

“Nothing you need to know about,” Loki said. Why had he mentioned that?

Thor quirked a brow at him, seemed to be trying to decide how hard to pry. But thankfully when Loki just stared back at him, he let it go and looked back at the casket. "One issue at a time, I think. We shall have to find our own home, and then we will see about what we can achieve with the Jotun."

“Of course,” Loki said, flicking his wrist, the casket disappearing once more. “So... do I have your permission to go to Alfheim and try to get another option for us?”

"...Yes, but you should take someone with you." Thor grimaced. "Just in case recent events have had the opposite effect you expect."

Loki bristled just a little at that. “I can take care of myself Thor. I do not need backup.”

"I know you are a very capable warrior, but it would set my mind at ease if you had someone watching your back." The way Thor's eye lingered on him with genuine concern, Loki wondered if he hadn't sufficiently distracted Thor from the unnamed favour he was going to offer Frey.

Loki sighed, he could tell that Thor wouldn’t take 'no' for an answer. “Well... alright, but only if I get to choose who goes with me.”

"They must be an adult, with proper fighting skills," Thor countered.

“I’m taking her with me as well as another adult,” Loki said with an eye roll.

Thor chuckled. "I will not protest you taking Ádís with you as well, that is your decision to make as her guardian."

“Then we are in agreement,” Loki said with a sly smile. “Tony is going to be back this evening, I will ask him to get ready as soon as possible so we can go to Alfheim.”

"Stark!" Thor's surprise gave way after a moment to chuckles. "More fool me for not excluding your lover from the options, I suppose. Fine, make it a family outing if you wish. I'm certain Stark will have your welfare in mind."

Loki barked out a laugh at that. “My lover!? Thor, we have slept together once. He’s a friend, I would hardly call him my lover.”

"And long overdue that, the way you two have danced around each other this last month." Thor grinned broadly, and Loki couldn't begrudge him his amusement, certainly not after how weary he had looked upon arrival in Loki's rooms. "And we shall see if you continue your protests in the future. After all, it seems you have a penchant for humans I was previously unaware of."

Loki shook his head, sitting back a bit in his chair with a smile. “I like him, it’s hardly the romance of the century. And anyway, if I get my way, we will all be moving to Alfheim. It’s not like that will be conducive to continuing to see each other.”

Thor put on an exaggeratedly contemplative expression, rubbing his beard with 'thought'. "And how was it again you were going to be making this particular journey to Alfheim and back? One might think in the same manner you would do in the future."

“You are a pain,” Loki huffed at him, but he was still smiling. “So, we’re agreed on our course of action then. I will take my lover and my charge to Alfheim, and convince Frey give us some land.”

Thor nodded, before another thought occurred to him. "Stark's own protege is due to arrive in only 4 days, will that be sufficient time for this journey?"

“It will. I am not going to be signing anything, just getting a proposal from him... and visiting with my nephew.”

"Solnar must be a grown man by now..."

“He is,” Loki said with a fond smile. “A credit to his parents, he will be an excellent king when his time comes. Last time I saw him he was courting a lovely young woman of more common blood. A rumour was going around that she had Vanir heritage, but that would suit him just fine. I hope he marries her.”

That caught Thor by surprise. "A commoner and part off-worlder both? That seems an unlikely match for a future king."

“Well... there are reasons they did not want him looking to the nobility for a match,” Loki said. He wasn’t sure how much Thor knew about the politics of Alfheim or what was happening to the elves. “Things have changed in a way that will benefit us.”

"Hmm, I expect there is a great more detail about Alfheim you need to tell me when you return, if your initial negotiations are successful."

“I will be successful.”

"Since you're so disinclined to tell me the details of why you're certain of this, I shall just have to wait and see if your confidence plays out."

Loki grinned. “Well... I will see you in about three or four days. I need to get some things together and then go see Tony.”

Thor stood up. "Then I suppose I shall leave you to it."

“I will see you soon brother. I hope my vodka settled your nerves.”

"The talk more than the vodka," Thor smiled as he added, "though as always, you have left me with more and new questions upon leaving, than upon arrival."

“Well, you know I have never been one to show off my whole hand before I make my play. I promise we will talk more when I return.”

Thor nodded and started for the door. He paused with his hand on the knob, "One of these days, I hope you will see you need not keep those cards so close to your chest with me. I do not take them, nor you, for granted as I once did," he said, and then he left.

Loki stared at the door for a few moments after Thor left and he sighed softly. He knew that Thor listened to him more now, but it was in his nature to be secretive. It was just who he was. Maybe it would change in the future. They were still figuring each other out anew and they needed to work together to get a new home. But for now, he had a bag to pack.

Chapter Text

Loki had said the cities of Alfheim were up in the trees, but what he'd failed to mention was that a whole city could fit in a single tree. It was hardly New York or London, but there were hundreds of buildings in the thick and sprawling branches of the tree. Looking out from the platform, the ground below wasn't even in sight, lost beneath a mist or perhaps even clouds.

"This... oh my..."

Loki looked at him, smiling. “Tony Stark, are you lost for words?”

"I feel like I've stepped into a movie, or a fairy tale." The architecture had an otherworldly feel to it as well, not just because it was in the branches of a goddamned giant tree, but because while they all had recognizable features such as windows, doors and roofs, none of them were quite in a style he'd ever seen before. It all... flowed, with an almost organic feel. And everything, every last scrap, seemed to be either made of, or covered with, plants.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Loki crouched down and looked to Ádís, still holding her hand and he pointed to the sky. “Look... do you see the cats?”

Tony followed where Loki was pointing, and in the sky there was a feline in mottled shades of green, at least twice the size of a tiger, flying through the air on green iridescent wings. Not only that, but there was a man in armour riding upon its back.

"Oooh, himinn köttur!" Ádís was the most excited Tony had ever seen her, except perhaps for when Loki took her running around the grounds of the compound as a tiger, with her on his back.

The himinn köttur and its rider swooped down towards them, landing on the platform at the opposite edge. The himinn köttur gave a soft bellow, as if greeting them. It was a beautiful animal, and its fur wasn’t fur at all but feathers.

Its rider got down, patting the great cat’s shoulder as he walked forward and his eyes widened. “Prince Loki? By the - We were told you were dead!”

“An overreaction I’m afraid, Cohnal,” Loki smiled, giving him a small bow. “I am here to see the king, if he is available?”

“He’s always available for you, you know that.” Cohnal grinned and his eyes moved to Ádís and then Tony. “Who are your guests?”

“This is my charge, Ádís, and this is my friend Tony Stark of Midgard. Leader of the Avengers, and Lord of Stark Industries.”

It was a good thing Loki had briefed him before they left on some of the key elements of Alfheim's culture, or he'd have been caught off guard on that. It was an interesting system, where they had a formal nobility, but all of the titles were granted based on the social influence the individual had. Military leaders, great scholars, and barons of trade.

Tony put on one of his most charming grins, as he gave a moment to be thankful for this 'All Speak' the more magical races had. "Pleasure to meet you, this is quite a beautiful city you have here."

“A Lord of Midgard?” he bowed to Tony respectfully. “I must take this opportunity to welcome you, sir. You are the first of your planet to visit us here.” He motioned to his mount. “This is Celebran...” He looked to the cat. “Bow you great beast, you are in the presence of royalty and a lord.”

Tony could have sworn the great cat rolled its eyes, but it bowed all the same. He wasn't sure if that level of intelligence in a mount, especially one with such large and sharp teeth, was comforting or concerning.

Cohnal looked to the three of them and then to Celebran. “You think you can take all of us to Frey’s palace?”

Celebran made an indignant murf noise and Loki grinned. “I guess that’s a yes?”

“Yes, yes. Come on, let us get you all mounted and we can get to the palace.”

They each had to take a turn letting Celebran stiff their hand before he would allow them to mount, and Tony couldn't help but think of the hippogriffs in Harry Potter and their bowing.

Tony was used to flying through the air, but that was in a plane, or more often in one of his suits. He was in control, and you didn't actually feel any of the wind, no matter how fast you went. It made the feeling of being in the air this way more... visceral. He couldn't say it would be his preferred way to fly in the future, but it was certainly quite the experience.

The speed was breath-taking, even with so many passengers on board. It wasn't long before they came into sight of the next great tree, which had bright golden flowers among the foliage, and the bark of the tree was white like birch. They landed in a large courtyard, with what looked at first like normal sized trees, but on second glance were actually branches of the tree pruned and shaped to look like smaller trees.

Directly ahead there were three figures, clad in white and gold. As they got off their mount and approached, Tony didn't need to see the circlets on their heads to know this was the royal family. King Frey and Queen Lindul were just as Loki had described, and the younger was clearly Prince Solnar. Not because of how much he looked like his parents, but rather his resemblance to Loki. Oh, he looked a great deal like his father, tall and willowy, with the same otherworldly features. But instead of hair all of gold, the lower half was Loki's inky black, and Solnar did nothing to hide it. His more golden locks were pulled up in an elaborate twist of braids that were all the more striking for their unbound black backdrop.

And then there were his eyes. Frey and Lindul both had eyes of a blue that was almost violet, but Solnar's were the same piercing green as Loki's, and Tony felt as though he'd been put under a microscope as Solnar assessed both him and Ádís.

King Frey had eyes only for Loki, and looked upon him with surprised delight, opening his arms wide. "Loki, my dear friend... I can hardly believe my eyes. If the wards hadn't said it was you... and yet I was afraid to hope."

Loki smiled, walking towards him and hugging him tightly. “I am sorry old friend... I planned to come see you when I could. Things have just been difficult these last few years. I am sorry to have caused you pain.”

Frey's smile faded into something more bitter sweet. "It can be forgiven, my friend, I imagine you have painful stories of your own. The Gullna Stjörnu returned from a trade run last month and reported Asgard is... no longer habitable."

Loki sighed softly. “No... it’s not... but - some of our people escaped. We are currently without a home, but we are alive.”

"I'm making sure they're taken care of for now." Given the somber topic, Tony was not prepared to call what he was feeling jealousy, as everyone else fell to the background in the wake of Loki and Frey's reunion. But it did seem a good point in the conversation to derail the sad train, and remind them he and Ádís were there.

Frey looked at Tony with a touch of startlement, like he had almost forgotten anyone else was there. "Loki, it seems there are introductions to make. You've never brought one of you Midgardian... companions here before." His eyes went down to Ádís and a brow raised, "And who is this young lady?"

Loki gave Frey a bright smile and looked to Ádís. “May I introduce my charge, Ádís, and my friend Lord Tony Stark of Midgard.” He almost beamed at Tony as he made his introduction. “Tony is an engineer of technology.”

Tony couldn't help preening a bit under Loki's complimentary gaze. "I own the sixteenth largest company on our world, it's the largest tech centred employer, and I also head our research and development division."

"That sounds quite impressive," Frey said without any hint of sarcasm, so Tony was going to take it for a genuine compliment, "and no doubt is what provides you with the resources to help look after Loki's people." He then looked to Ádís, who was half hiding herself behind Loki at the attention, though she'd yet to relinquish her hold on Loki's hand, reclaimed the moment they'd dismounted. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, my dear."

"Hello," was all she said, in her soft-spoken way. In the presence of so many strangers, Tony thought that was actually probably an accomplishment.

“Ádís rather likes the himinn köttur you have flying around here,” Loki told the king.

“Well...” Solnar said softly, crouching down so he was on her level and giving her a kind smile. “My own himinn köttur has two cubs a few months old and she just loves to show them off to guests. Would you like to meet them?”

Ádís looked uncertainty from Solnar up at Loki.

Loki smiled at her. “Solnar is my nephew... we can go see the cubs later, if you want me to come with you? But if you want to go with him, you can as well, it’s up to you.”

"Later, please." Shy as she might be, she never failed to be polite.

Solnar grinned at her. “I look forward to it. I warn you though, the little ones are vicious lickers.”

She smiled at that, and that had to be progress, Tony thought. It had been at least a month after their arrival at the compound before Tony had seen a smile on the little girl's face, and he'd seen her at least every couple of days with Bruce helping Loki look after her.

"So, how long will you and your guests be staying with us, Loki?" Frey asked as his son stepped back into place.

“We will all be here for a few days at least. If what I need to speak with you about runs longer than that, I will need to take Tony home. He needs to be back on Midgard in a few days for some guests that are arriving at his home. There were some things I needed to discuss with you... a favour I need to call in.”

Frey quirked a brow, intrigued. "So, this isn't just a social call, then."

“Unfortunately not... but if things go well, we will have much more frequent social visits in our future.”

"I look forward to our discussions then. But business can wait!" Frey threw his arms wide in a gesture of welcome. "You're a long-missed friend, we must get you settled with rooms, and arrange a dinner worthy of your return."

Loki grinned. “I look forward to it. We will need a two-bedroom suite, so that Ádís can have her own room.”

Tony caught a flash of something on Frey's face as he glanced between himself and Loki. With his alien features, Tony couldn't be entirely certain, but he was pretty sure it was jealousy, and no doubt exactly what Loki was angling for with the request. As far as the ways people had tried to use Tony in his life went, this was pretty mild, and came with the benefit of spending at least the next two nights in Loki's bed. He had absolutely no complaints about that, and he did his best to suppress the smirk that wanted to get free at trumping a king for Loki's current preference.

"The royal guest suite will certainly meet your needs," Frey said. "Lindul, my dear, would you be so kind as to see our guests to their rooms. Solnar and I really should be getting back to our meeting with Lord Kossa. Especially if I wish to free up the next few days."

“Of course, my love,” she said giving Loki, Ádís and Tony a warm smile. “This way if you please,” she gestured for them to follow her.

“Thank you, Lindul,” Loki said, and they followed her as sje led them away.

The suite was just as nice as Loki remembered it, and the royals' hospitality was as always without compare. How quickly they could lay a feast on was truly a talent to be envied, and Loki had delighted in introducing Tony to all of the new foods there were for him to experience. He'd made an extremely appreciative audience to the adventure, and it didn't hurt in the least that he'd caught Frey looking at Tony enviously every so often.

No doubt Frey was considering the second child he'd long wished for Loki to carry, and contemplating whether or not he would have to wait the remainder of a mortal lifespan to bring the topic up again. He'd likely be seeing Tony as a problem more than usual, after having thought Loki dead these last few years, and it would give him all the more eagerness to make an arrangement formal between them. That was all to the better when they began negotiations tomorrow.

But today had been for catching up with friends, eating good food, and seeing the sights of the Royal Tree. Ádís had actually laughed as she'd been tumbled over by the enthusiastic himinn köttur cubs, it was such a refreshing sight. And when he tucked her into bed with her stuffed tiger, softly signing her one of the lullabies Frigga had sung to him as a child, she fell quickly and peacefully to sleep, despite being in unfamiliar surroundings. He couldn't help but be proud of her, and pleased that she was feeling safe enough to begin healing from all that had happened.

As he entered his bedroom, a pair of arms looped around his waist from behind, and Loki smiled to himself. Tony was a man full of contradictions, and it delighted him. He was at times so stand-offish from people, putting up walls with a grin and a witty remark, effortlessly keeping people at bay. And yet with those he'd claimed as his own, he was fiercely loyal, and surprisingly tactile. He'd seen it with Bruce, when they'd first arrived, how he'd immediately gravitated into the other scientist's space without a thought for the lack of the buffer that seemed to follow him around elsewhere. Just like the pride he felt with Ádís, he couldn't help a thrill of pleasure at knowing these days he was counted amongst those elusive few Tony allowed in his space so intimately.

“Well hello,” he purred as he turned to Tony, pulling him close. And this time he was prepared. He flicked his wrist and grinned as he held up a condom. “Would you like to fuck the God of Mischief, Mr Stark?”

Tony nipped playfully at the curve of his neck. "Do you really need to ask?"

Loki gave a soft moan. “It’s always good to communicate clearly.” He led Tony to the bed, kissing as they went.

There was something so delightful about being with Tony. The first time they'd lain together they'd both been tired and achy from the battle, but they'd still taken the time to enjoy the moment, beginning to learn each other's bodies as they'd brought each other pleasure. This time, well rested and assured of no interruptions by meddling wizards with grand ideas, they could take even more time. Drawing things out, exploring and learning each other’s most sensitive places.

The way Tony would shiver delightfully when Loki ran his nails down his back with just the right amount of pressure. How Tony took his time to explore and discover the places Loki most liked to be touched. Perhaps it was because he'd already seen Loki's differences in the various scans he'd taken, but there was never any hesitation or hint of displeasure at Loki being different from his previous partners. No need for Loki to shift into a more 'conventional' shape to keep his partner happy. Loki could count the number of partners he'd had that could make that claim on a single hand, and three of them were currently here on Alfheim.

When they were done and lying under the sheets, Loki was aching in all the best ways, and for a moment he wished his healing wasn't quite so good, so he'd still feel a hint of the lingering ache in the morning, as a pleasant reminder of how they'd spent their evening. Of course, there was nothing to prevent him from making fresh memories in the morning. They wouldn't be due to the breakfast table until mid-morning.

“Mmm,” Loki said softly, snuggling against Tony. “That was wonderful.”

Tony's arm was wrapped around him, fingers brushing absently back and forth against his lower back. "Mmm, you are impressively flexible."

Loki chuckled. “I have been told that before...” He ran his hand over Tony’s stomach. “You know... it’s... being myself... it’s not something I have been able to enjoy with many people. Thank you for being - well - you about it. Curious and eager... it made for a very enjoyable evening.”

"I'm not very good at being anyone but me, so I'll take that as a compliment." Tony smiled and gave him a slow and lingering kiss. It was no less enjoyable than all that had come before it for the lack of urgency in it this time.

As they parted, Loki smiled at him, running a hand through his hair. “It is a compliment... I enjoy your honesty. So many people have hidden agendas when dealing with me, but you seem genuine in your interest and your friendship.” He gave Tony a wry smile. “Maybe I am a little sorry about the whole ‘window’ incident.”

Tony chuckled at that. "Well, if you're a little sorry, that makes it alright then. I can tell Bruce and Rhodey to lay off about my lack of self-preservation instinct."

“And Vision, he still glares at me a little.”

"Huh, didn't know he was doing that. I'll talk to him."

“I understand why... and that stone in his forehead. It’s from the sceptre, isn’t it?”

"Yeah, it was inside the fancy bobble at the end."

Loki nodded, he remembered when he had held the sceptre, it had unsettled him... “It is a dangerous and powerful artefact. I wonder how it operates... have you had him in one of your infernal MRI machines?”

"Can't put him in an MRI, he's got too much metal in him. Doubt an MRI would tell us anything new about the stone though."

“I would like to have a look at it, but I doubt he would trust me. But that stone... it keeps just a little piece of everyone it touches. An echo of them.”

Tony looked at him curiously. "Including of you?"

Loki nodded and shuddered a little. “Yes...” He hated having it touch his mind as he was asked question after question. He hated the way it made him feel. He had still been raw and angry when he’d been found. Still had been quite broken. Thanos had promised him a new home in exchange for the Tesseract. Promised him a place to belong.

And yet, he knew it had been a lie.

When he opened his eyes again, Tony's curiosity had morphed into concern.

“It - what I did - I cannot say I didn't want to. I cannot say I was forced. But I was influenced. I was sold a pretty story and wanted to believe it, because I was angry and bitter. And now, looking back, I would have done things differently I think.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “I’m fine... I just wonder how you can be so close to me after what I did to your wonderful planet.”

Tony was silent for a few more moments, but he didn't pull away, which Loki took as a good sign.

"There are moments it's easy to forget you're the same person who led the invasion on New York and all that went with it. That person doesn't really feel quite... real. He's almost a caricature, like the Tony Stark that goes on stage for events like the Stark Expo. I mean it's me, but it's not, it's more like a character I play." Tony's fingers ran absently over Loki's back.

"You've done some awful stuff – but people can do some pretty terrible things when they aren’t thinking clearly, I know first-hand,” Loki wondered if he was thinking about things related to his time in Afghanistan, or the events around Ultron and Sokovia. Bruce didn’t like talking about it much, but he’d said enough. “But, amongst other things, you've also helped save your people when you could have easily abandoned them to save just yourself. You've been wonderful with Ádís, and steered me in the direction of treatment that will help Rhodey's recovery go further than it would have otherwise, and have proven to be a witty and interesting lab companion..."

Tony smiled wryly before adding, "You're both wonderful and awful, and I've been told the same."

Loki laughed. He was glad that Tony seemed to think such things about him. He was glad that Tony had been able to set aside his anger and his bitterness to some extent.

“Thank you for giving me a chance and not immediately hating me.”

"That big ship you flew in on helped," Tony half joked, and then his smile softened a bit, "as did Bruce's good opinion. He might have called me a fool for spending so much time alone with you at first, but he did have a lot of good things to say about what you did on the trip to Earth."

“It’s good to hear that. He’s become a good friend - and the Hulk isn’t so bad, even if he still calls me a ‘puny god’.”

"He doesn't seem to like Thor much either, for what it's worth."

Loki grinned. “No, he doesn’t.” Loki gave a soft, content sigh. “Thank you for coming with me. I would have been a bit lonely without you.”

"Thank you for bringing me, this place has been amazing. It's like having stepped right into the pages of a book, or through the movie screen. A very Last Action Hero sort of experience."

Loki frowned at that reference. He had been getting himself up to date with cultural references on Earth, but that one he hadn’t heard. “What is ‘Last Action Hero’?”

"Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, classic 90s cheesefest, and good for a laugh or two."

“Ah... well you will need to show it to me when we get back to Earth.”

"I think that can be arranged," Tony promised with a soft laugh, and they talked quietly about the things they'd do when they returned until they both drifted off to sleep.

Loki had been right that the negotiations would only take a couple of days to lay the required foundations, and then they were heading back together, for what would be the morning on Earth of the day Tony's protege was due to arrive. What had been a surprise, was when Frey had decided Solnar would accompany them back. The prince was to both assess for himself the improved wisdom and temperament Loki claimed of Thor, and if satisfied, to continue the negotiations.

Based on his glance at Ádís, Loki thought he might have had received a parting kiss from Tony, if the man hadn't been certain how Loki's charge would take it. He supposed that was something he'd have to discuss with her, if this thing between himself and Tony persisted for any length of time. Or maybe sooner might be better. Even if it didn’t last forever, it was unlikely to end anytime soon.

Partway down the hall away from them, towards his lab, Tony stopped and turned around. "Oh, by the way, will Lydia be introducing herself to the boys this afternoon, or tomorrow when we start working on the ship?"

“Probably tomorrow, I have a fair bit to do today. I will come find you in the morning.”

Tony nodded and began walking again leaving Loki with Solnar and Ádís. Loki looked down at Ádís and smiled at her. “Let’s get you to the school room, and later I promise I will try to turn into a himinn köttur. I am not sure if I will be able to fly right away, but I am eager to try.”

Ádís smiled brightly at that, and there were no protests about heading to her lessons. Not that there ever were, she was a terribly obedient child.

After dropping off Ádís at the school room, Loki enquired after Thor’s whereabouts and found him in the training room, sparring with both Valkyrie and Heimdall. Loki stood watching off to the side with Solnar. Thor was clearly irritated with something. Loki hoped that it was another negotiation that went poorly - that would make their new plan all the easier to sell to Thor.

“Your brother's hair is short,” Solnar said with a frown, “and why does he have an eyepatch?”

“Oh - yes, I forgot to mention our sister blinded him in one eye. And he got his hair clipped when he was thrown into the gladiatorial ring on Sakaar.”

“I see...”

Loki smiled a bit; he knew that standing side by side as they were would highlight their similarities. The last time Thor had seen Prince Solnar, he was barely more than a toddler - yes he had green eyes and the two toned hair, but he was just a child, and it was easy to miss the resemblance then.

“Uncle Loki... your brother - does he know about..?” Solnar motioned to himself and then Loki.

“No,” Loki said, “but he’ll soon find out. You’re not a dirty secret, Solnar, it’s just that my father would never have understood. Ancestors, he would have probably tried to get your father to marry me.”

Solnar snorted, “You’d have killed him in his sleep in five years.”

“More likely four... I did the math.” He really adored King Frey, but he was a little stifling over longer stretches of time. Frey wanted his wife and any of his lovers to be looked after and do very little for themselves. Even the year or so he’d spent on Alfheim when he’d had Solnar, he'd threatened to stab Frey at least once a week after the first six months.

That made Solnar laugh and it caught the attention of the three in the ring.

Thor's brow furrowed as he took the sight of them in. "Loki and... Prince Solnar? I hadn't realised you were quite so grown yet." His gaze was flicking between the two of them assessingly, and Loki had a brief moment to feel proud Thor wasn't just saying the first thing that came into his mind on the subject.

Prince Solnar smiled at him and gave him a small bow. “Hello King Thor. It has been a long time since I last saw you. My mother and father send their regards and ask that I speak on their behalf on the negotiations that my uncle, Prince Loki, has begun in your stead.”

"Uncle, yes..." Thor murmured, before handing Heimdall his swords and walking over to them. "I appreciate their trust in sending you, and that they're willing to engage in these negotiations." Thor held his arm out to clasp Solnar's in greeting.

Solnar gripped his arm and smiled brightly. “They were confident I would be safe with Loki. Especially as a Lord of Midgard came to assure them that I would be perfectly safe on his land while visiting. I must say, it’s much nicer than I was ever led to believe this planet was.”

Loki smiled softly at that. It would have been a hard sell if he had not had Tony with him to show how safe Earth was, with civilised people on it. He had hoped either Frey or Sonlar would return with him to talk to Thor.

“There has been a lot of progress these past few centuries,” Loki commented and looked at Thor. “We have much to discuss... and I think you will like what Solnar has to offer.”

"No doubt more than what I thought of the Americans' latest proposal," Thor grimaced. "I have been informed, by my most eloquent brother here, that I smell like a bilgesnipe that has been rotting in the sun for three days after I have been sparring. So, if it will suit you, Prince Solnar, I will retire to my room to wash and have lunch arranged for us in the meantime. We then might begin our discussions over a meal?"

“Oh dear,” Loki said. “What did they want this time? To bury me in a box unless you need me?”

"Near enough."

“Americans are very stubborn,” Loki said and smiled. “We will meet you for lunch then. In the meantime, I am going to take Solnar on a tour of the grounds and the facility. Where should we meet you?”

"I will have the Avengers dining area prepared for us, it is as private as you might get without the use of a meeting room, and affords a more pleasant view."

“Sounds good,” Loki said. “We will meet you there in about an hour?”

Thor nodded and looked to Solnar. "I look forward to hearing what you and Loki have discussed thus far."

“We will speak soon, King Thor.” Solnar gave him another short, but respectful, bow before Loki smiled at him and led Solnar away to his tour.

Loki wasn't at all surprised later, when their meal and discussions about the negotiations thus far were done, that Thor gave Solnar leave to go walk amongst their people, but asked that Loki himself remain for a bit. Once Solnar had left, Thor allowed a troubled frown on his face.

“And what is that expression for? I think the terms proposed by Alfheim are quite favourable for our people,” Loki said, sipping some water. “Much better than anything Earth has offered.”

"I am finding there is no solution before me that does not include the bartering of my brother's body in some way. Why should I not find that troubling?"

Loki couldn’t hide how much he appreciated that, even if in this case it was a misplaced concern. “Thor... this is different. This is my choice. This is something I would do for them eventually anyway; this just puts a timeline in place for it. It is quite the favour to ask of me, but it is also quite the request we have made of them... and they want us there. They want to have us on Alfheim, to learn what their home is really like, to mingle with them, to join with them. We are welcome there - what do we have here? A planet that is grudgingly allowing us to remain - only because Tony is paying our way. Without him, where would we be? If we did not have him to rely on, where would our people be living? I tell you - I have seen what this place does to refugees, it is not pretty if you do not have money or influence to help you.”

Thor sighed and rubbed his forehead just above his eyepatch, a habit he had developed when stressed in the months since Asgard's destruction. "Yes, I have footage and accounts of what has happened to many. I have been doing research of my own, with the help of Stark's digital assistant. The humans are happy to have our technology here, but not us. Our continued presence is an unfortunate side effect of acquiring that technology for many of them, and for others the benefit of having us here is to keep us in their debt... It is not all of them, Stark is an example of true generosity, but few of his ilk are involved in these negotiations."

“The general population are good people,” Loki said quietly. “But those that raise to power rarely mirror the goodwill of the people. The strong step on the weak. It’s always been this way on Earth. I’ve seen it over and over. But... if we were on Alfheim... I am not saying we shouldn’t trade with Earth and get them ready for the intergalactic stage, it’s just that if we were on Alfheim, we would not owe them anything. The only person we owe anything to is Tony... and he’s reasonable.” Loki smiled at that. “And eager to find out about other planets - you should have seen his face when he first saw Alfheim...” it had made Loki wish he could have shown Asgard to Tony. But... maybe one day, through visions, he could show him his home. “He was lost for words.”

Thor smiled a bit at that. "Yes, his child-like enthusiasm is somewhat endearing, even if he has other vexing traits." He looked out the windows, and Solnar could be seen on the lawn with some of the older children, showing them a bit of magic. "I suppose it is hardly as though you have not made a bargain of this nature with Frey and Lindul before."

“No... and Solnar is a credit to his parents, he is a wonderful young man whom I am very proud of... and he knows what I am to him. It’s not uncommon for the royal line to employ surrogates.”

"Yes, given what Solnar says of their fertility problems, that seems unsurprising. And the fact that they've been having more success engendering children in cross-race pairings suggests there may be as much in this offering for them, as there is for us... Three islands, already with some infrastructure in place... It would be a hard offer to turn down under most circumstances."

“It would,” Loki said, glad that Thor felt the same way he did. “You know how I feel about it... even if we do not make the deal, I will make my own with Frey to have another child for him and Lindul... so it is up to you Thor. We can stay here for the next 12 months, trapped in Tony’s facility, or we supply our ship and travel and have a new home in six... it’s up to you.”

Thor was quiet, pensive for a few moments, before he finally said, "Not just me. Our people should have a say in this. It is all our futures, and I will not presume to know what is in everyone's best interests without speaking with them first."

“A wise choice,” Loki said with a small smile, and he meant it too. “We need to forge a new Asgard... where our people come first.”

"I am King, and will lead, but I have learned that leading also requires listening," Thor smiled wryly, "a lesson long overdue, I am aware. ...I will speak with the people tonight, after the dinner hour, and then I will make my final decision."

“Do you want me there with you to answer questions... or Solnar?” Loki wasn’t sure if their presence would be a distraction.

"You should be there, Loki. You are their prince as much as I am their king... I know that was not always the way of things before, but it is now. The people look at you differently than they once did."

“Only because they were forced to spend time with me. Only because I helped them when they needed it... not because they approve of me or who I am.” He looked to Thor and smiled wryly. “The children like me much more than the adults do. They trust me, and I see that it makes their parents unsettled.” And it didn’t help that he had seen some magic in quite a few of the children, including the boys. He wondered how many Asgardian children denied any hint of magic through fear of being shunned.

He was very glad his mother had thought different.

"That was how it started, but not how it remains, brother. It is you people seek out when there is a disagreement that needs to be mediated, not me. And they come to you with their concerns for the needs of the children, again it is not me. They look to me to find us a home, to provide a source of hope to lift their spirits, but it is to you they entrust the day to day management of our gathering. It has been that way since before we landed on Earth." Thor smiled slightly. "Did you even notice how no-one questioned your arrangements for the school-room and the schedule you planned?"

Loki frowned at that. In fact, he hadn’t noticed. He had just made decisions and their people went along with it. He hadn’t really considered why, except that they were not familiar with Earth. “I... didn’t, no.” He sighed softly, “I am not used to people looking to me for guidance.”

"It seems you will need to get used to it, as you have taken on the role mother had always hoped, of my closest advisor and a leader to our people."

“It’s strange, you know. Losing our home... losing mother and father... I feel sad and yet - I’ve never felt like I belonged on Asgard or with our people until recently. I think I was always trying to be something I’m not - pretending to be someone I’m not - and now I say ‘I am what I am’ and I do not need to hide anymore. Even with you. You know about my children, you know about my spouses, and now you know about Solnar.”

"I'm sorry you had to hide such important things before." It meant even more that Thor hadn't said he'd felt he had to hide things, it acknowledged that Thor knew there had been a reason for Loki to hide as he had done.

“I wish I could have let you meet them,” Loki said quietly. “You know, I named my first son Thorin... he became a very talented smith and an excellent chief when he grew up.” He didn’t look at Thor, lost for a few moments in memory. “But I know how father would have reacted, and you adored him, so - you would have told him - not on purpose, but you would have...”

"I wish I could say you were wrong, but I don't believe you are... and I would have been very confused at your willingness to carry a child when you were a son of Odin... I still find it an odd thought to reconcile, but I understand more how different we are - and I do not mean merely physically - and respect your right to make your own choices."

“Oh, it was a shock to me when I got pregnant in the first place, I didn’t realise it all worked properly. I told Ulfric I was barren and he married me anyway... and then I got pregnant and he was so overjoyed I couldn’t help but be happy. His happiness was infectious, and it honestly was fascinating, having a life inside me... growing and thriving...

"He told me it was a ‘Gift from the God of Fertility’, and when I suggested naming the child, Thorin he was so happy...” Loki smiled, still not looking at his brother. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable, but Thor had expressed a wish that Loki share more with him, so he would share, but he wouldn’t say that it still wasn’t a bit difficult. “I do not know if I will have any other children that are mine... I suppose it depends on how things go in the future.”

"Whether or not you have another partner with whom you wish to have them... You still have many years ahead of you, Loki."

“I do... but every time I find someone I love... it never lasts, for one reason or another. I think I am doomed to always fall for those that I cannot keep.”

Thor made a thoughtful hum, and Loki couldn't help but look at him. He wished he hadn't, when he saw the sadness in Thor's gaze. "Stark..."

“Thor... he’s not - he’s just a friend,” he said quietly. “I am fond of him. But... he is not interested in having a family.” At least, he didn’t think Tony was. He’d never asked him. And they’d only just started seeing each other. It was early days yet.

"But he is another mortal that has caught your attention. And even if it does become something that lasts, even if he were interested... It would be reliving a cycle you have already done a number of times now." Thor sighed and looked out the windows. "I was very naive when was with Jane... There are many reasons our relationship did not last, but it would have been... I can only imagine what it was for you to have loved and lost as you have. I understand now your words on Svartalfheim were a warning born of experience."

Loki was quiet for a few moments, gathering his thoughts, thinking of those he had loved and lost. “I didn’t want you to feel that pain,” he said softly. “And yet... I would rather die today, than never have met each and every one of them. The lives I had with them... the joy and acceptance I found. But I bled each time they left. I broke a little each time I lost them. Frey and Lindul let me stay with them every time it happened, every time I needed somewhere to just regroup... and then I would come to Asgard - and nothing had changed. The nobles still drank too much, the servants were still downtrodden, the warriors still called me names... The idiotic nobles tried to get me to sleep with them, setting their hands on places they would never dare with a well-liked prince or princess.”

Thor's expression darkened at that. "I did not realise, or those hands wouldn't have been fit to set on anything for some time after they tried."

“And how would that have looked?” Loki asked, looking up at Thor. “The young prince asking his big brother to fight his battles? No... I told father... he... well... it is not a conversation I wish to relive. So, I dealt with it on my own.”

"...It will be different in New Asgard. We have a chance to start over, keeping the best of our culture, and," Thor smiled wryly, "making our own new mistakes, I suppose."

“As much as I miss our home, I think perhaps it was time we learned our lesson. It is a painful lesson to learn, but we will make a new home and things will be better. I look forward to standing by your side and rebuilding what we have lost.” Loki smiled a bit, he was quite sure that Alfheim was the best place for that to happen, to get the freedom they wanted. “So, we will speak with our people this evening... I look forward to hearing what they have to say.”

"As do I. I should let you get back to spending time with Solnar, and I will speak with Heimdall and Valkyrie about this evening. The less opportunity you and Heimdall have to antagonise each other, the better."

“He really needs to learn to like me.”

"Do you like him?" Thor asked pointedly.

“Well no,” Loki said, it was quite obvious he didn’t. “But I am his Prince. It’s his duty to like me. I can hate him all I want.”

Thor chuckled at that. "It is only his duty to obey you, not like you- "

“Then I will simply order him to like me.”

The chuckle turned into a full-throated laugh. "You and I both know it does not work that way."

“Well then he’s not doing his duty.” Loki grinned at Thor. “He’s never been the best at following his duty in hindsight. ‘Do not let my sons through to Jotunheim’ was ignored. As was ‘do not let the Warriors Three go to Earth’ was ignored. And ‘Please make sure you like Loki’ is also ignored. It’s no wonder I dislike him.”

"I ordered him to leave you to things on the ship and not undermine you, that seemed to go fine."

“Because he likes you, he does whatever you ask him to do.”

"Quite unlike you."

“I do the important things. And the things that make sense. I ignore the stupid requests.”

Thor smiled with a hint of wistful wryness. "And that is why I need you both as my advisors. He knows our histories, our traditions, and has many insights, but I need you to challenge me when it is needed as well. I understand now I would not be a good king on my own. I would like to think that knowledge is a trait required in a good king."

“I think you’re right,” Loki said with a small smile. “So... I should go find Solnar.”

"Yes, I believe you'll still find him on the lawn," Thor gestured out the windows towards where the younger children were chasing a large phoenix-like bird that seemed to be made of green light.

Loki grinned at that. “Oh good... I am looking forward to trying my new form.”

"Dare I even ask what that is?" Thor asked as they stood to leave the room.

“A himinn köttur,” Loki said with glee. “I am not sure if I will be able to fly right away, but I am keen to try. Especially if we do move to Alfheim, it would be a very useful shape to have indeed.”

"If Tony's guards lodge another complaint, I shall direct them to you." Based on the mirth in his gaze, Thor wasn't particularly bothered by the prospect.

“I would love to see any brave enough to do so while I am in one of my animal forms.” Loki grinned at Thor. “I will see you later brother. I hope Solnar and I have managed to brighten your day.”

"Indeed, you have."

That was what Loki wanted to hear, and he went to find Solnar and Ádís, feeling more than a little pleased with himself.

He also couldn't help a laugh when later that night he got a text from Tony, 'Happy is complaining about having to hire new security guards for the compound, because two have asked for transfers due to stress. I can't imagine who's caused that...'

‘You need to find guards with more backbone. Better I weed out the ones that are useless now than when you have a real crisis on your hands.’ Loki texted him back with a grin.

“What’s got you grinning like that?” Bruce asked him, having been distracted from his book by Loki’s laugh.

“Oh - nothing important,” he said and Bruce shook his head, going back to his book.

Loki went to sleep feeling quite content that night. His people had chosen a course, and he had high hopes for their future on Alfheim. Thor and Solnar were getting along well, and tomorrow he would spend the day arms deep in the Statesman's systems, as they began preparations for its next long journey, with Tony's proteges as their aides. The only thing that could have made it better would have been having Tony in bed beside him instead of Bruce.

Chapter Text

Tony couldn't help a thrill of delighted amusement as he watched Peter and Ned stare in fascination at the Statesman, where it sat along the far edge of the compound's lawn. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't done at least a bit of that himself when the ship originally landed. It was twice as long as a commercial jetliner, and had easily twenty times the volume.

Loki had said there were actually spaceships far larger than this out there, and when he let himself think about the terrifying sight of the Chitauri fleet in the void of space, he knew the control ship had been much larger than the Statesman, though it was hard to gauge just how much with the short glimpse he'd had, and without something to provide scale. The thought of even bigger ships made him all the more determined to understand everything he could about the Statesman.

“Mr Stark - I’ve never seen anything so - well, I mean... it’s huge. How does it even fly?” Peter looked at the ship with open awe, clearly eager to get on inside it.

"The propulsion has a number of things in common with my repulsor tech. I'm intending to use what I've learned from this to develop my own space propulsion system with the resources available on Earth."

“How many people did it bring? And - what about the cargo space? How did it fly here with the Asgardians and enough food for them? And did you say that they were going to go on another trip? When do they leave? How long do we have to study it?”

"It was decided yesterday; they're leaving at the end of the summer. Once they've had time to make all of the preparations they need for a nearly four month journey. To lay in supplies, make some upgrades to the living accommodations, that sort of thing."

Tony was proud of the fact he kept his disappointment from his voice. It wasn't like he hadn't know the Aesir were always going to leave the compound, whether it was for somewhere else on Earth or otherwise, but it was... nice, having so many people around living their lives and being able to walk amongst them. They treated him differently than they did each other – because he wasn't Aesir, and because they knew he was largely responsible for their ability to live here without too much hardship – but it was different from how the public on Earth in general treated him. There wasn't the same sort of hero worship or expectations. As far as the Aesir were concerned, he was just a nice man with the money to treat them kindly in a time of need. He was definitely going to miss that.

“Well, we should hurry up and get started then,” Peter looked at him and smiled. “Can you imagine Earth having ships like this? Are you going to build ships like this when you have the tech figured out?”

"That's the general idea. There's a lot of other worlds out there, and we'll have friends on one of them now."

"This is so cool!" Ned finally seemed to get over his awe enough to speak. "So, we're going inside now?"

"Yeah, Lydia, one of their... engineers I guess you'd call her, should be waiting for us in the engine room."

Ned frowned a bit at that. "We'd call her an engineer? What would she call herself?"

"A sorcerer," Tony said with a grin, which only grew as both boys showed shock and then scepticism.

They made their way to the ship and into the main engine room. Tony caught sight of Lydia - well Loki really - standing by the main engineering console, going over some data on one of the holoscreens. He had a small frown on his face as he contemplated something on the screen that he was clearly displeased with. “There is something unbalanced in section A7 of the engine, and I cannot quite figure it out. Mr Stark...” Loki turned to look at him with Peter and Ned, “the imbalance caused our engines to shut down three times on the way here. It is of the utmost importance that we correct it.”

"Lydia, how many times do I have to ask you to call my Tony? Mr Stark was my father," Tony added with a flirtatious smile, as he let his eyes wander over what could only be called a leather and linen catsuit, which was cut in a style to accentuate all of Loki's current feminine curves. "And our young guests have arrived."

“Ah yes,” Loki said, looking both boys over. “Peter and Ned, was it?” He walked towards them, his gait more feminine, with a swing of his hips, and shook first Peter’s hand and then Ned’s. “Mr Stark - Tony - informs me that you are both exceptionally bright young men. I am curious to see what you make of our ship.” Loki motioned generally around them. “I wish I could say she was perfect, but she has her flaws which I would like to rectify before we make our trip to Alfheim. Including the squeak in the captain's chair, very annoying hearing that whenever the king swivels around on the bridge.”

Both Peter and Ned seemed quite lost for words in Loki’s presence. He looked between the boys and then to Tony. “You did not mention they were mute...”

“I - uh - we aren’t miss, ma’am?” Peter asked and looked at Tony with an expression close to panic.

Tony couldn't help a little laugh at that. "Well, Lydia's not married, so I suppose it would be 'miss'. Afterall, 'your sorcressness' sounds more than a bit ostentatious."

“Just a little,” Loki said and looked between the boys. “You may call me Lydia. I do not care for titles.” She motioned to the console. “Come then, let us look at the engines and see what we can come up with to fix our current situation.”

That morning set the tone for the ones that were to come after it. The shock at Lydia's appearance, and awe at her magic, all calmed down for the boys after a few days. They were teenagers, so of course they still looked, but the novelty wore off some, and they seemed amused by the unrepentant flirting Tony and 'Lydia' engaged in, especially when they managed to do it as a part of legitimately discussing the engineering repairs and dissections of the ship. It also became quickly apparent that Ned preferred working hands on, rather than with the theoretical. It wasn't that he wasn't smart, because he definitely was, he just didn't pick up on the abstract as well as Peter did.

That was why when they finally decided to fix the squeak in the captain's chair, about a week into the boys' visit, it was Peter that was sent to collect lunch, while Ned helped Tony pull apart and reassemble the chair's mechanism.

He'd left Ned to it for the moment, since the kid quickly got a grasp for the work they were doing on the parts, and Tony went over to one of the consoles to work on a more complicated element of the systems programming with Loki. It was legitimate work, even if it also provided a good excuse for Tony to get up into 'Lydia's personal space, and he'd been enjoying the novelty of Loki changing forms like this.

Of course, that would be the moment Thor would come looking for Loki. "Stark, I need to speak with my brother, and your computer assistant said you would be found working together here..."

He trailed off with a frown as he saw Tony and 'Lydia' turn to look at him, still standing close as they were. Thor's eye went from one to the other, clearly running over something in his mind, and Tony hoped desperately this wasn't going to devolve into Thor giving him a shovel talk about cheating on his baby brother with Lydia - not that what he and Loki had going between them was anything formal enough for something to be considered cheating, but there was no way to know if Thor saw it that way.

Tony saw the moment when the penny dropped, and realised Thor couldn't see Ned behind the chair. He tried to gesture to stop Thor saying anything, but it was too late.

"Loki, have you always been the one behind Lydia's face, or is this a new guise assumed after her death?"

Loki couldn’t help but show shock at that. “I would never be so disrespectful - I mean -” his eyes went to the chair and he winced as he saw Ned gaping at him. “King Thor... I - I do not know where your brother is.”

Thor frowned at the about face, "You don't need to pretend you're someone else, I meant no insult. You've never said if your ability to change form relies on directly copying another, or if it can be created from whole cloth. With a creature like the tiger, the point is rather moot."

Tony sighed, even if Thor had picked up on the not so subtle hint, the damage was already done. "Ned, stand up and say hello to Thor, it's not polite to lurk in shadows unless you're on an active spy mission."

With surprise, Thor looked at the chair, as Ned stood up and waved. "Uh... Hi." He turned back to Tony and Loki. "Mr Stark... you are going to be in so much trouble with Aunt May."

“No, he isn’t,” Loki said, looking over at Ned. “He’s only in trouble if she finds out - are you going to tell her?”

Ned looked conflicted at that. Finally, he settled on, "Pete is terrible at keeping secrets from her."

Tony smiled wryly, "Can you keep a secret from him? Because honestly, Loki's the most knowledgeable person about this ship, and we won't make even a quarter of the progress we need to without him."

That didn't really settle Ned's uncertainty, as he looked between Tony and Loki. Eventually he looked back at Loki, "May was working in the ER when you attacked the city..."

“Ah,” Loki said softly and rubbed the back of his neck. It was clear that information had wrong footed him. “I was not quite myself when I came to Earth. I was full of anger and pain - not at your planet - just in general. It wasn’t until I got here, that I had time away from my captors, that I was able to think straight. It was then that I realised that I could never have what they had promised. That at best, all I could do was deny them the prizes they sought and ensure that Earth knew the dangers that were out there.” Loki gave a deep sigh, but he looked at Ned, giving him his full attention as he spoke.

“I regret that so many people were harmed when I came to Earth. My intention was to cause chaos - to make it so that S.H.I.E.L.D. and the governments of Earth could not hide the event that happened. That it would not be simply swept under the carpet and forgotten by the masses. My plan worked in that respect... had there been a more peaceful solution that I had access to at the time, I'd like to think I would have taken it. I suppose in the end, if I could go back - knowing what I know now - things might have been different.” He glanced at Tony, a look of regret and maybe wistfulness? “If only I had known...” he said quietly and then looked away from him.

'If', that word sent Tony's mind spiralling in so many directions, but now wasn't the time for that, not when he needed to deal with the situation in front of him. "Loki's not good or evil, Ned, he's just a person who's done both good and bad things... More than a few of us who can claim to be heroes can have that same statement laid at our feet." He looked over at Thor who grimaced and nodded.

"Stark speaks the truth."

Ned considered this for a moment longer, before he finally said, "Okay... but it's not my fault if Pete figures it out on his own."

"Of course," Tony agreed.

Loki smiled a bit and nodded his agreement before looking to Thor. “So, brother, what did you need me for?”

"Solnar has proposed we send a smaller advance group to the islands to start the settlement up, while the rest travel by ship. As such a plan would require you to bring the advanced group through, we need your assistance determining how many we could take and in how much time, and how that would impact the rest of our plans regarding resources."

“Oh,” Loki looked thoughtful at that. “That’s a good idea...” He looked to Tony, “I am afraid I will need to take my leave of you for a short while after lunch. I have some calculations to do. I also may need a room to set up a rune portal, depending on how many people and what we wish to take to Alfheim.” He looked to Thor. “The best craftsmen and any of the women that are proficient at weaving would probably be best. And those that are comfortable with animals... and heights.”

Thor frowned thoughtfully, "Would this rune portal be able to take all of our people?"

“Oh goodness no,” Loki said. “Otherwise I’d just offer to do that in the first place. It will just make it easier for me to traverse the world tree. I need to do the calculations, but it should let me make a few trips in a day. They only last around 29 hours, because of the planets moving and the shifting branches of magic, and the calculations themselves take a few hours, and there is always margin for error. Especially when you take into account that Alfheim’s solar system dilates time slightly, so you have to account for the Anar Effect - not to mention the fact that Earth’s magical pathways are all policed by wizards - whom I will likely need to talk to if I plan on making so many trips.”

Thor looked bemusedly from Loki to Tony, and Tony couldn't help but laugh. "I can only translate about a third of that, but I'm pretty sure what it boils down to is it'd take him at least as long to move everyone there that way as it would to do it by ship, and he'd be more than a little exhausted by the time it was done."

"I see... Just an advanced party then."

“Well, yes,” Loki said with a smile. “So, as I said, we will discuss it after lunch in detail.”

"Very well, I'll go let Solnar know you will be with us when we reconvene."

Loki nodded, and Thor took that as his cue to leave, then he looked back to Tony. “Shall we continue then until Peter gets back with lunch?”

"Yeah, we should finish up what we were doing here. Ned, you good with that chair?"

"Yeah, I think I've found the part causing the squeak. Think you're going to have to make a replacement with the renderer, Mr Stark, it looks cracked almost through to me."

"Get it out and we can see how quickly FRIDAY can whip up a replacement this afternoon."

"Cool."

Tony knew it was probably more than a bit unfair to ask Ned to keep Loki a secret from Peter, but for the moment he didn't have a better idea. And Ned actually managed to be casual about it and not give anything away when Peter got back with lunch. So that would have to do for now.

It had been a few days since Ned found out about Lydia in fact being Loki, and Loki had to say that Ned was doing a very good job of pretending nothing had changed. Keeping Peter's secret must have made for good practice for the usually quite excitable boy. He treated Loki just the same as he had been, helped whenever he was asked, and was generally very nice to be around. Peter too, Loki could see what Tony saw in the boy, he was going to be an excellent engineer as he learned and progressed.

In those few days they’d fixed part of the engine that had been causing problems, and he had spent a few hours with the Aesir children again, this time assessing for any that had an aptitude for magic. He was going to need to take on a couple of students when they got to Alfheim. Asgard had lost all but two of its mages, and he would need to be the one to pass the art on to the next generation.

But that could all wait until they got to Alfheim, for now he would enjoy Tony’s company and, at least twice a week, his gorgeous body. He didn’t want to spend every night with him, he had Ádís to think of, his adoptive daughter loved having him around in the evening to read or watch movies with. He made sure she was happy for him to go when he went to find Tony and spend an evening. Tonight, he’d left her with Bruce watching some cartoon that Bruce said was a ‘classic’.

He’d had a long day, so he was glad to get his hands on Tony, to nip and tease. To taste and lose himself in the easy rhythm they had. The sex was only getting better, Tony was an eager, giving lover and was all too happy to oblige Loki in his requests.

As they lay together, limbs tangled together and Loki’s head on Tony’s shoulder, his breath ghosted across Tony’s chest as he sighed with contentment, closing his eyes. He hadn’t had sex quite this good in a few years. He traced Tony’s hip, fingers running over his stomach. It was because they were so close together that Loki felt the incremental tension that began to fill Tony's body as the silence went on, even before he tightened his arm around Loki's back. Almost as though he were expecting Loki to pull away and was pre-empting it.

Loki frowned and opened his eyes, looking up at Tony. “Tony... what’s wrong?”

"You know I have nightmares... we both do..." Tony's gaze was trained at a point on the wall at the foot of the bed, rather than looking down at Loki. "I had a new one last night..."

Loki’s hand never stopped moving, rubbing soothing circles on Tony’s skin. “What was the new one?” he asked softly. He and Tony had never really discussed the details of Tony’s nightmares. He knew the general events that caused them, but it seemed there was something about this new one that he wanted to talk about.

"Has Thor or Bruce told you what prompted the experiment with the scepter that led to the... Ultron incident?"

“Not the details,” Loki said quietly. “He said you were trying to create something to protect Earth, but you didn’t anticipate the... quirks of the mind stone.”

"Ever since I saw the Chirtauri armada first hand through the portal, I'd been having nightmares both about the experience, and a general impending sense that they'd be coming back. That my one nuke wasn't enough to end the threat for good..." Tony's arm tightened a bit around him and Loki closed his eyes.

"Wanda... brought the fears related to it, the ones I'd been trying to ignore, to the surface. I was embroiled in a waking nightmare, where all of the rest of the Avengers and the other people important to me were lying dead or dying, and it was my fault we weren't ready enough for what had been coming... Up to then I had been trying and failing to find a way to protect the world from another Chitauri-like attack. So, after that and the further nightmares it was inspiring, I managed to convince Bruce we should try to use the AI that seemed to be in the scepter to create one complex enough to run an army of drones to protect the Earth... Because somehow I forgot how every sci-fi movie like that ever ended and thought I could get a positive outcome from the idea."

Loki sighed, it made a horrifying sort of sense now. He had wondered what had possessed Tony to use the mind stone in such a way. He also blamed Thor for not warning him about just how dangerous the Infinity Stones were. But desperation and fear could lead the best astray. Something he knew all too well.

“I see,” he said softly, he could tell there was more, so he remained quiet, watching Tony’s expression.

"Stopping Ultron and Wanda didn't stop those dreams, they've just changed as time goes on... The split of the Avengers and Rhodey's injury... adding Peter to the pile of the dead... learning about Thanos..."

Loki shifted, pressing closer against him. “I... I am sorry that I have added to your burden.”

"You just put a name to the nameless threat that was always there, don't regret making us better aware of what's coming. Not being ready is exactly what my dreams are about, that wasn't the new part last night. What was new was you were there... and Thanos won because we missed the opportunity to stop him when he sent you to New York, while he didn't have any stones in his possession."

“Oh Tony...” Loki sighed softly. “I... I don’t know what to say.” And he didn’t, what did he say to that? What did he say that he was now among Tony’s nearest and dearest? That he was included in those nightmares, even though he had brought the Chitauri. “I am sorry...” and he was. It was always easier to dismiss others pain when he didn’t need to consider that he knew them personally. That it was the abstract ‘others’ that were hurt by his actions. Not those that he cared about, not those connected to them like Peter’s aunt.

When he was faced with a name, with a person that he had harmed. That was always more difficult.

"When you were standing there in my penthouse... If I had given you an out instead of taunting you, would you have taken it?"

It was something he had wondered himself. At that moment he had felt so alone, he had just dispatched the Herald of the Chitauri, sent through the portal by The Other. Thrown him from the tower just before Tony had shown up. “I don’t know,” he said quietly.

"After I woke up and got my breathing under control, I pulled up footage from back then... Trying to see if I missed something, something that should have given me a clue. But the only thing I could find was the way you looked when you arrived, and at the time, I just thought looking so tired and drawn was a result of portal travel."

Loki closed his eyes; he could feel the sensations of fear and rage creep over him from his time with Thanos. The rage as he knew he was being used as a tool to do another's bidding yet again. He pulled away, sitting up, taking a deep breath as he ran his hand through his hair. “The portal wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen or used before - a little faster, a little harder perhaps. But... no... it was everything that came before...” he shuddered, the memory of a hand on his throat, the smell of burning flesh, the Other’s hands stroking his face and chest. It made his stomach churn.

“There’s nothing you could have done,” he whispered.

Tony reached out, taking his hand. "I'm sorry for ruining the mood of the evening. I was just... I was laying here, thinking how nice this was, how... well matched we are. And then suddenly the dream was back, and I was thinking could this have been something we found sooner, was it my fault we didn't? Or did things have to play out as they did for us to have made it to this point, and if so, how awful of a person am I to have been unreservedly glad for a moment that they had?" He sighed heavily and gave Loki's hand a little squeeze, Loki wasn't sure if he was even conscious of doing it. "My mind gets me into trouble as often as not..."

Loki ran his thumb over the back of Tony’s hand, gathering his thoughts. It was only now that he realised he was in dangerous territory. That this friend of his could turn into something so much more, and he wasn’t sure if that should scare or excite him. “As does mine,” Loki said softly. “I do not think you could have changed anything. I was too angry when I came to New York. I wish it could have been different... I wish I could have taken you up on that drink and ignored the war outside the window... I wish I could have gained what I wanted without the destruction I brought.”

"But you didn't, and I wish I could have seen what a mistake Ultron was before the fact, but I didn't... and even though the Time Stone is a thing out there that exists," Tony smiled wryly, "trying to change what either of us did is probably a bad idea. So, we have to work with what we have."

“I wouldn’t change anything I have done... I wouldn’t be where I am if not for what I have done.”

Tony wrapped his arm around him, and Loki allowed himself to be drawn back down into laying on the bed. "We'll be selfish about enjoying what we've got together."

“It is all we can do, I suppose. I cannot change what I have done in the past, all I can do is move forward. I see no benefit in punishing myself forever.” He wrapped his arm around Tony, closing his eyes once more. He gave a soft sigh.

He had promised himself after his last wife that he would not get close to another mortal. That he would keep his distance from them and not have his heart broken again. And yet here he was, in the arms of another brilliant spark on Earth. In the presence of a man that he wanted to be part of his life for some time to come.

“Tony... never stop being you,” he said softly. “Anyone that tries to change you isn’t someone you should entertain in your life.”

"I..." Loki could hear the surprise in even that single syllable. "Thank you, Loki," he finished more softly, "I think you're pretty special just as you are now as well."

“I appreciate that,” Loki said quietly and gave a soft, content sigh. “Now, let us go to sleep, before we get too sentimental. I can only take so much in a 24-hour period.”

Loki felt the rumble of Tony's laugh where they were pressed together. "No, we can't have that," Tony agreed as he ran his fingers through Loki's hair. "Goodnight, Loki."

“Goodnight,” he said softly.

The room went quiet but for their breathing, and Loki slipped into a blissful, peaceful sleep.

It was the third week of the boys' stay when the alert came in, another giant creature was attacking a Pacific coastal city. Reports were coming in about a creature that was a mixture of a snake and a bird having slithered in from the ocean to terrorize the residents of Lima. Of course both Peter and Ned insisted on coming along. Ned was easy to bench, he wasn't a fighter, but Peter was a different story. Not even invoking how angry May would be at Tony taking him over international borders was enough to get Peter to back down. So, in the end Spiderman joined the rest when Loki teleported them to the South American city.

Tony couldn't believe what he was seeing as he flew up into the sky. It was like the deranged love child of an Andean cock-of-the-rock and a boa constrictor. "Someone needs to tell our deranged mastermind that Quetzalcoatl belongs in Mexico, not Peru."

"I doubt a geographic history lesson is high on their to do list, Tony." He could hear Rhodey rolling his eyes. "Now let's take this thing out before it takes out another building."

And it had set its sights on a rather tall structure, clearly having crushed two before it with its giant coils. It was too dangerous to the potential civilians inside the building to have Thor try to fry it right off the bat, so Tony and Rhodey flew in first to try and draw the thing away, while the others set up a perimeter, or helped trapped or fleeing civilians.

The first volley of small missiles and repulsor blasts mostly just seemed to annoy the thing, not making nearly enough of a dent in its skin. Tony flew up around the head, looking for a vulnerable spot to get a better shot in. Just as he was flying around the face, calculating the best approach to go for its eyes, Rhodey let another volley fly and the creature was getting truly pissed off.

Tony braced his ears for some sort of bird shriek as the great beak opened, and then he found his suit covered in some sort of black gunk. "Ugh, disgusting. This thing projectile vomits as an attack."

That was when the HUD started flashing up warnings and the repulsors began to splutter. "What the-"

“Tony,” Loki’s voice came through the suit. “What is wrong with your repulsors?”

"Shit, shit, shit! This gunk is acid, Rhodey don't get near the head. It's strong enough to eat through my plating and it's getting into the wiring." Tony tried to veer away, so he could land somewhere out of the thing's reach, but first one palm repulsor flickered out and then the other, and Tony lost all stability, having to fight just to not go tumbling through the air.

That's when he felt the first drop of acid leak through to his arm, and the paid was agonizing, like someone was pressing a hot poker to his skin. He couldn't help the groan of pain as he tried not to cry out, and his concentration on the repulsors broke, sending him into a tumble toward the ground that he was finding it impossible to pull himself out of.

“Tony!?” Loki’s voice was urgent. “Tony - answer me -” and his voice cut off, the communications gone. The ground grew ever closer, the last power to the repulsors died and there was truly nothing he could do to stop himself plummeting.

And then, suddenly he was caught in midair. Not by Rhodey, but by a huge flying cat. They landed on the ground, the cat morphed into Loki, his hands over the armor. Tony felt the suit around him heat up and tasted a metallic tang in the air as the armor began to open. As he looked at Loki, he saw a murderous look in the mage’s eyes.

Loki ripped the suit from him as if it was made of paper. Tony didn’t think he’d ever seen this much rage in Loki’s eyes, even in the battle of New York, and then as Loki saw the damage to Tony’s arm with the acid he let out a low growl and cast his eyes up at the creature, clearly plotting.

"Loki, your hands," Tony gasped, even as he was trying to get his breath back. The black gunk was all over them from ripping the suit off of Tony.

“I have a shielding spell on my skin when I realised it was acid,” Loki said, looking back at him. He flicked his wrist, his hands becoming clean as he pressed his hands over the wound on Tony’s arm. Tony felt the pain melt away from the area and cool. Before Tony could consider what he was doing, Loki lifted him from the wreckage of his suit and teleported him away.

They landed in the middle of a busy hospital emergency room, Loki took Tony to a hospital bed and set him on it before turning to the nearest member of staff. “You fix his arm, if he loses the arm because you do not work quickly enough, whichever doctor decided not to fix him will lose their arm, understand?”

The nurse that he spoke to nodded, her eyes wide.

“Good,” Loki said and looked back to Tony. “I will be back shortly.”

"Loki," Tony wasn't sure what to do with this sudden protectiveness, certainly the threat to the hospital staff seemed over the top.

Loki didn’t reply but popped out once more, presumably back to the battle. Tony couldn’t hear any of the destruction where he was, so Loki must have taken him far enough away from the battle to be safer. But on the other side of the hospital room, there was a television switched to the live news coverage, and he ignored the nurse and doctor that tried to get him to sit down in favour of watching it.

He watched as the creature resumed coiling around the same building Tony and Rhodey had been trying to draw it away from. But before it could finish another loop, a resounding roar was picked up by the camera and a massive black dragon barrelled down towards it, its back legs aimed right for the creature’s head, long wicked talons gripping it through its skull.

"Well that's one way to take care of it," Tony said faintly, watching as the dragon ripped out first one of the creature's eyes and then the other.

"Señor, please," the nurse had clearly been trying to gain his attention for a few minutes now. Absently Tony allowed himself to be drawn back toward the bed, where a burn kit had been laid out on a table beside it, but his eyes never left the television as the dragon snapped the creature's neck.

The dragon gripped the now still creature and beat its wings to pull it up, gently unwinding it from the building. The cameras followed Thor flying up to it and perching on its shoulder as it flew higher, taking the abomination towards the beach.

With that the fight was over, and the footage moved on to a reporter, down on the streets where the damage had occurred before their arrival. Tony finally looked away, to where they were bathing his arm with a solution to remove and neutralise the acid, and he grimaced. Whatever Loki had done to block the pain, Tony was thankful for it, because the skin across the whole back of his forearm was blistered and peeling where the acid had dripped down it. If it hadn't been for Loki's spell, there was no way he'd be able to concentrate on anything but what the doctor and nurse were doing.

If he didn't end up with a scar from the burn, he'd be shocked. Yet another one to add to what seemed to be an ever-growing collection.

About half an hour passed, the news was still on, covering the destruction in the city and wondering where the dragon had come from. If it was another one of the creatures like the one that had attacked or something different. Just as the news shifted to the beach to see the creature laid out, Loki appeared in the room and he looked like shit.

Loki looked at Tony where he laid on the bed, his arm bandaged. “Oh good,” he said, voice a little hoarse. “I am glad they fixed you up.” He walked over to the bed, a little unsteady on his feet as he flopped down into the chair beside Tony.

He had beads of sweat on his forehead, his hair was greasy and he swallowed, breathing a little hard and deep, as if trying to stop himself throwing up.

Tony assessed him with a concerned frown. "You look like you need this bed more than me."

“I am fine,” Loki waived his hand dismissively, but now that he was sitting so close, Tony could see he was shaking, shivering a little. “I am just tired. I will be fine once I have had some rest.”

"Well then you definitely need a bed," Tony said, moving to get up.

Loki set his hand on Tony’s undamaged arm, his skin clammy. “Stay right where you are. I am fine, nothing a hot bath and some sleep won’t cure.”

"Well then we need to get you somewhere you can get that. I'll be fine, they've bandaged my arm up and whatever mojo you put on it is still working, it barely aches right now."

“That’s good,” Loki said with a soft smile at him. “It should last about 24 hours. I am no healer, but I can numb pain and take care of minor cuts and bruises. I knew your wound was beyond my abilities as they stand. I am planning on learning more of healing... when I have time.”

"Well for now, let's get a taxi out of here and go meet the others, I'll get us a hotel or something."

“I could teleport us if you know which hotel you want.”

"You sure you have enough energy for that?" Tony looked at him dubiously.

Loki opened his mouth to reply and then frowned with a soft sigh. “I could probably do it, but I probably shouldn’t. Fine, fine, get a taxi.” Loki gave a deep sigh. “I should have meditated last night instead of watching Beauty and the Beast.”

"Ádís' latest discovery?" Tony waved the nurse away as he started to help Loki out of the room. He didn't think he'd properly been admitted yet, so maybe he could get away without having to fill out any paperwork to leave.

“Yes,” Loki said. “Bruce has been showing her the Disney movies. He says he might show her either The Little Mermaid or Finding Nemo next. She wanted to show me Beauty and the Beast, she quite liked the music.” Loki yawned and glanced at the nurses and the doctor who seemed wary of him, and he honestly seemed a bit confused as he regarded them, then shook his head.

"You did threaten to take their arms off if I lost mine," Tony reminded him, giving them a wry smile and a wave goodbye with the arm not wrapped around Loki, being careful not to jostle his injured arm too much. Even if there was paperwork he was supposed to do, he was sure they weren't going to bother him with it with Loki there.

“Well yes,” Loki said, looking at him now. “I know how humans can be with paperwork. Fix first, paperwork and payment later.”

Tony couldn't help a little laugh at that, given where his own train of thought had been. "There was no paperwork, and I doubt anyone will come at me with it now given your current case of resting bitch-face."

“Ugh,” Loki said, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist. “Send them a cheque and a bouquet of flowers as apology for my rude behavior. Let us go get the taxi quickly before I decide to teleport us against my better judgement.”

"FRIDAY, you working on that taxi?"

"Should be outside by the time you make it to the front doors of the hospital, boss," she replied from the phone in his pocket.

"There we go, no need for rash teleportation attempts. And by the way, if you're not going to be there, I'd tell Bruce to make it The Little Mermaid next. You should probably be with Ádís for her first Finding Nemo experience."

Loki frowned, looking at him curiously. “Why?”

"Disney movies have a penchant for at least one parent being dead, usually it happens before the movie started - like with Beauty and the Beast - but there are exceptions. Bambi and Finding Nemo are amongst those where the mom's death is heavily implied having occurred just off the side of the screen."

Loki gaped. “What a cruel trope. I think I may need a hug while watching that one.” Loki yawned, leaning into Tony more. “I hope this hotel is nearby...”

"About 20 minutes away, Loki, sir. You took the boss to a hospital rather far from most of the establishments suitable for housing the Avengers."

Tony thought he saw a couple of people snapping photos of them with their phones as they passed through a waiting area, but at this point, he really couldn't care less. He just wanted a good meal and to fall into bed with Loki to sleep for at least 10 hours. The fight had been short, but the panic as he'd been crashing had been taxing, and Loki looked like he could do with a rest at least that long.

“I took him to a safe hospital that would not be full of the wounded from the immediate area.” He rubbed his face, feeling just a little heavier at Tony’s side. “Perhaps I should have stayed in my dragon form and flown us somewhere to sleep...” he grumbled.

"Where, the mountains?" Tony asked incredulously, gesturing at the Andes visible in the distance as they stepped outside the hospital.

Loki laughed a little. “I could have been the dragon stealing you away like the old fairy tales... not that dragons care about princes or princesses.”

"So, somewhere out there," Tony gestured up at the sky, "there are actual dragons? I meant to ask if you could turn into imaginary creatures, or if that was the case."

FRIDAY directed them over to a waiting taxi, and Tony helped Loki get into the back. He gave the driver the name of the hotel FRIDAY provided on his phone's screen, and the car moved out into traffic.

Loki rested his head on Tony’s shoulder, yawning again. “Bath... bed... you... sleep...” Loki gave a small smile. “Sounds like a nice end to the day.”

Tony chuckled at that; it didn't sound bad to him either. "Probably should get some food in that order before sleep."

“Hmmm, perhaps,” he said, a hand resting on Tony’s thigh. “But I can think of something much nicer that I would like to devour.”

"I doubt I'll provide more calories than you'll burn," Tony teased back.

Loki chuckled softly, his fingers rubbing circles on Tony’s inner thigh. “True... well, we can order room service while I bathe.”

"Now that sounds like a plan." Tony grinned and leaned into Loki's side.

Loki was half asleep by the time they made it to the hotel, but he was still stubbornly moving under his own power. None of the others had arrived yet, but FRIDAY said she'd organise getting them there. So, leaving them in her capable hands, Tony focused on getting Loki up to their room and the rest he much needed... eventually.

Chapter Text

When Tony walked into his suite at the Compound and saw Pepper sitting on his couch, he reflected back on his attempts to dodge her voicemails and texts since the attack in Peru. He really should have expected this.

"Hey Pep," he put on his most winsome smile, "it's been a while."

She stood, looking him over, as if looking for any sign of outward injury other than his arm strapped to his chest. She sighed softly as her eyes settled on his arm. “It has... are you okay?”

"Yeah, I mean the arm hurts like a bitch, but it could definitely have been worse. And when I take some more painkillers and sleep it off, I'm sure it'll feel a bit better in the morning."

“That’s good, I’m glad you had time to see a doctor before you came back.” She sat back down, waiting for him to sit as well. “I was worried. I know I’m not your girlfriend anymore, but... you’re still my friend, Tony. I just - FRIDAY was being evasive in answering my questions. I just needed to see with my own eyes that you were okay... and talk.”

"Talk about what?" Tony asked innocently, as he headed for his kitchenette. He couldn't mix alcohol with the painkillers he had, but the soothing taste of coffee sounded good right about now. "You want anything?"

“A coffee would be nice,” she said, and he could feel her eyes on his back. “There were some... reports I got from the fight. I’ve had various requests for interviews with you... and with Loki.”

"Huh, they should be sending any requests for Loki and the others from Asgard through the UN. Maybe they got fed up with him not replying to the last round after Sydney."

“And yet the newspapers have this strange idea that you might be able to sort out an interview a little quicker.” He heard her pull out her phone and his phone dinged with a video she’d sent him.

Tony set the coffeemaker to running and pulled out his phone, looking at it warily. The video that played was from a mobile phone, clearly from near the front of the hospital that they had exited. It showed Loki leaning into Tony, a small smile on his face as he said something the phone couldn’t pick up. His arm around Tony, the way he leaned in, it looked very... intimate.

"Oh, um. I was keeping him up on his feet until we got to the taxi. Teleporting a group of 8 to another continent and then shape shifting twice in quick succession, particularly to a shape with more than 100 times his usual mass, was quite exhausting. He was barely vertical there."

“I can see that,” Pepper said, staring at him. “I can also see the way he’s looking at you, the way you look at him. I’ve seen that look in your eyes before.” She quirked an eyebrow at him, “And you were sharing a room. That has made it into the papers this morning.”

"All of the Avengers were sharing rooms, it's safer that way. You have someone nearby to watch your back while you're recovering from the latest fight."

“While I know that’s true, the fact that you shared a room with him and not Peter speaks volumes,” she said, crossing her arms.

"...We got to the hotel first, no-one else was injured, and the rest of the rooms weren't ready yet." It was true, even if it was mostly a token protest.

She narrowed her eyes. “Tony Stark, I have spent years putting up with you. You think I can’t see through the stories you tell me? After everything we’ve been through, you don’t think I can tell when you’re not telling me the whole truth?”

Behind Pepper, the door to the suite opened and the subject of their discussion walked in.

“Am I interrupting?” Loki asked smoothly.

Pepper turned, staring at the door and then back at Tony, her stare halfway between triumph and rage.

Tony looked over at Loki with a sigh of resignation. "Apparently the news organisations are getting tired of you dodging them, and they're going to SI about interviews now, instead of the UN."

“Oh... well, I’m not sure an interview is a good idea. I have this feeling they will ask me some questions that they will not like the answers to.” He walked forward, his eyes on Pepper. “Attaché Amora advised against it, at least for now.”

Pepper crossed her arms over her chest, meeting his gaze. “What answers wouldn’t the press like to hear?”

Loki smirked a little at that as he walked forward. “That is not a conversation I wish to have today, I am tired.” He walked towards Tony, past Pepper, and Tony could see her twitch. “I’m going to bed,” Loki told him. “Ádís has asked that you keep her up to date on my wellbeing while I rest.”

"I'll go see her before her bedtime," Tony promised.

Loki smiled and touched his arm fondly. “Thank you,” he said, and made his way over to the bedroom, closing the door behind him as he entered.

“He’s gone to your bedroom,” Pepper stared at the closed door. “He walked in here - he has clearance? You gave him clearance? Tony - he threw you out of a window! He killed innocent people - he stood in Stuttgart and acted like Hitler. I watched you fall from the sky because of him.”

"Pep," Tony sighed and ran a hand over his hair, "it's complicated."

“It’s complicated? Really - that’s the answer you’re giving me? Sleeping with the man who tried to take over the world is complicated?”

Where was he even supposed to start explaining this to Pepper? They hadn't talked about anything except work since they'd broken up right after Christmas. There was so much to it, and she wouldn't just accept that Loki was fun to be with in the lab, and... just generally surprisingly easy company. Tony was pretty sure he would have to go into things that weren't his story to tell to really get her to understand.

With a sigh, he finally said, "You know how I gave in after Siberia and saw that therapist you kept trying to get me to go see, right?"

She frowned and nodded. “Yes, I know.”

"And how one of the things I had to work on was accepting and setting aside the cognitive dissonance about James Barnes and the Winter Soldier, and where the responsibility lay for the things the Winter Soldier did?"

“I remember.” Pepper gave him the smallest smile. “I was - I still am - proud of you for doing that.”

Tony grimaced, it was still hard thinking about Barnes, and he wasn't at all sad the man was likely half a world away, but he wasn't going to be trying to hunt him down again any time soon either. "Well... that therapy is part of how Loki went from being my willing lab subject, to being my friend."

“What do you mean?”

"I'm not saying Loki has a get-out-of-jail-free card on the level of Barton or Barnes, but... there were extenuating circumstances none of us were aware of at the time. And I don't mean the dick joke that directly led to my defenestration." And the thought that Thanos was still out there, that they were going to need to be prepared for his eventual arrival, made Tony's skin crawl. That Loki could barely bring himself to say the name, to speak about what happened, said a lot about how scary Thanos was. Add in the history that Thor knew of him, and it didn't paint any kind of a good picture.

Pepper sat back down on the couch, clearly willing to listen. “What kind of extenuating circumstances?”

He set a mug of coffee in front of her, made just how he remembered she liked it, before sitting in an adjacent chair with his own mug. "It's not my story to tell, but suffice it to say, that invasion wasn't Loki's idea, and the one whose it was... Well, Thor says according to their histories, he makes Hela's work on Asgard look like a child at play."

Pepper looked worried at that, her eyes glancing to the door. She considered his words for a few moments and said simply, “You trust him.”

Tony looked over at his bedroom door. It wasn't something he'd put into words, but over the last couple of months, all the time he'd spent with Loki, getting to know him, getting beneath his prickly shields... And then yesterday, in Lima... He and Loki still needed to have a talk about that. A quinn jet packed full of people hadn't been the right place to bring up Loki's protective behaviour.

"Yeah, I do."

Pepper sighed, looking at her coffee, and smiled a little. After a moment she commented, just as Tony was taking a sip of his coffee, “I like that you had to get under a ‘god’ to get over me.”

Tony was proud that he didn't actually choke on his coffee, but he gave her a censuring look for it anyway. "You did that on purpose. And I am not talking about who gets under who, or when."

Pepper laughed and smiled at him. “Maybe I did... and you’re not talking about it?” she asked innocently. “It must be serious then - or you just don’t want to tell me because I’m your ex, I suppose.” She leaned back, still smiling and then gave a soft sigh, looking down at the coffee in her hands. “I miss you Tony... not as my boyfriend, as my friend.”

"It's not serious, Pep, we're friends." His lips twisted in an amused smirk, and he looked away, unable to help a glance toward the bedroom, "with some really good benefits."

When he looked back at Pepper, he really looked at her for the first time in a long time. Pepper still looked every bit the successful CEO, but she also looked... relaxed and happy, even after the anger she had walked in here with. By the end of their relationship, it wasn't something he'd seen often, and it had been hard to admit that they just weren't right for each other. He supposed that, in retrospect, the ridiculous way he'd proposed should have been a sign that things weren't working out quite the way they should have been. Trying to fit themselves into boxes that they weren't made to fit had chafed at them both over time. Friends, though, you could forgive a lot in a friend that you couldn't in a lover...

"And I miss you too."

“Tomorrow, have lunch with me,” she said, looking at him with a small smile. “I’m going to be here for a couple of days. The members of the board are interested in what’s going on here, and so am I to be honest. I’d like to catch up... but you should probably rest first.”

"I was going to see what I could scrounge up for dinner, have you eaten yet?"

“No,” she admitted and glanced at the bedroom door, then back to Tony, “but I didn’t want to intrude.”

"Loki's probably asleep already. The energy to mass conversion to turn into a 20-ton dragon really drained him. That's why we took the quinjet back, rather than him teleporting us like how we got there. He slept most of the flight even, but he still probably won't be back to normal until tomorrow."

Pepper frowned a little. “If he’s just sleeping, why is he sleeping here? I assumed you had other plans.”

"So Ádís doesn't have to worry about keeping quiet so he can sleep. Bruce was going to watch The Little Mermaid with her, and she's started singing along to some of the Disney music." Tony couldn't help the smile on his lips as he thought back to the other day when he came by and she was singing along to Mulan. Seeing the usually so reserved little girl singing I'll Make a Man out of You had been a rather wonderful sight.

“Who is Ádís?” Pepper asked curiously.

"Loki's charge. Bruce is her go-to baby-sitter, since he and Loki are roommates."

“His - like his daughter then? And Bruce babysits? I never got the impression that Bruce liked children.”

"He doesn't really have the patience for them in general, but Ádís isn't a hard kid to take care of mostly. She's pretty quiet, and you have to entice her away from her books sometimes. Bruce couldn't do the full-time parenting thing, but he can manage a few hours in the evening with her on his own now and then."

Tony's voice went a bit softer as he added, "Ádís lost both of her parents in one of Hela's attacks, it was a neighbor that got her away to Heimdall's sanctuary. But the neighbor has a child of her own, and Ádís was pretty catatonic at first, apparently. Loki says the first time she did something without being directly told to by an adult, it was when he turned into a tiger to entertain the kids on the ship and she came over and hugged him. He's been looking after her ever since."

“Oh,” Pepper said softly, her eyes moving to the door again. After a moment she looked back to Tony. “Sounds like you have a lot to tell me. Let’s order in pizza then, if you’re sure you don’t mind me staying for dinner.”

"I'm sure. FRIDAY, put in the usual ‘Loki’s over for dinner’ order, plus... What do you want, Pep? This place does a chicken pizza with peppers and onions, and an order of medium wings?"

She smiled and nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

"Actually, FRIDAY, do you think the usual is enough?"

"Do you want leftovers for the morning, boss?"

"When don't I?"

"Why did I even ask? Given what Mr Loki ate this morning at the hotel, I would recommend adding on half again to the usual."

"Sounds good, do a full double on the wings."

They settled in to talk some more, Tony telling her all about the things the Aesir had done to make the compound home for the time being. That of course led to talking about Alfheim, and Pepper demanded to see the photos Tony had taken. She got a bittersweet look on her face when they got to the section where Solnar had stolen Tony's phone the one evening to play with it and take some photos.

Tony hadn't gone through them all yet, so he hadn't realised until now just how many of those photos had been of him, Loki, and Ádís, together and smiling as they played with the cubs. He felt a pang in his chest when he thought about how soon they'd be moving to Alfheim, and how rarely it was he'd probably see them after. He'd expected to miss Loki's company in his lab, and in his bed, but... that trip had been the start of Tony spending more time with Ádís as well, and his rooms were going to feel lonely and quiet without their occasional game nights to fill the silence.

He was pleased he managed to keep his voice steady as he quickly swiped onward through the photos to explain about the giant trees, and privately resolved that when the Aesir all left, he was going to head back to Long Island. That would put him closer to the New York office and Peter... and away from the silence that would be left in the Aesir's wake.

Loki had spent the day alone in Tony’s suite, resting, enjoying the peace and quiet. He spent a couple of hours on the couch, watching TV, reading, and relaxing. He hadn’t realised he’d fallen asleep with the TV on until Tony came in.

"Hey..." Tony smiled, and there was something chagrined about it. "You were out cold when I left this morning, feeling less exhausted?"

“Much less,” Loki agreed as he slowly sat up, stretching as he did. “I do not use that dragon form very often as it leaves me so... drained.”

"Yeah, the mass to energy ratio is obscene at that size." He perched himself on the arm of the couch by Loki's feet.

“It is easier being smaller and up to three maybe four times my size. Anything more takes time to readjust.” Loki shifted his legs, giving room for Tony to sit if he wished to, but he didn't take the bait.

"Do you find any sort of similar or opposite effect with going really small? Like a mouse, or a smaller type of bat, versus the fruit bat you were turning into before? I have to wonder if throwing the ratio out the other way would produce excess energy, or cause you to be more tired when you switch back."

“I don’t often go so much smaller, but when I do...” Loki thought back to those times when he had turned back. “I was always full of a manic energy when I turned back. I find it easier to be in a creature of a similar size to me, slightly larger or smaller.” Loki looked at Tony and then at the seat that was now free for him to sit, but he still didn’t take the hint. “Sometimes it’s easier than others. It depends on if I have meditated to be ready for the change or not.”

"What does meditating do for you then? Is it like a way to prepare a reserve or conduit for the extra energy?"

“When I know what the plan is, I can either create a path to siphon off excess energy or have a path to bring extra power in...” He watched Tony closely, the way he still sat, perched on the arm of the couch. “Tony... is something wrong?”

Tony sighed, and that confirmed it, he'd been dancing around something. "Peter knows you're Lydia. He called me out on it today."

“Oh... well...” Loki smiled a little at that. “He’s a clever boy.”

"He also saw the photos of us leaving the hospital, and your... protectiveness in the fight was hard to miss. That's what brought Pepper here last night."

“Ah...” Loki said softly, watching him carefully. “I suppose that’s hard to miss...” He sat up, still watching Tony, watching for any sign of discomfort. “Does it bother you?”

"What, that you were protective of me?" Tony finally moved down onto the seat, tucking one leg under himself so he could still face Loki.

Loki shifted a little closer, glad that Tony had chosen to sit with him now that he’d stopped trying to feign nonchalance. “Yes...”

"I mean, I'd be bothered by it if you were trying to keep me out of the action, but you aren't. I got taken off-guard," Tony grimaced, "I never thought a biological creature could contain an acid that corrosive and live, but clearly our mad scientist is using magic, and that's played some role here I didn't think to account for. So, I was in trouble, maybe not necessarily deadly, depending on exactly how it played out, but it could have been, and that pissed you off." That got a wryly amused smile. "I'd be lying if I said there wasn't part of me that found that quite hot, actually."

“If it hadn’t taken your life, it would have certainly have taken your arm,” Loki said quietly, taking Tony’s hand in his, running his thumb over the back of it. “It made me angry... The last time I felt such ire, my mother was dead...” partly because of him, not that he could claim all the blame, but he’d told that monster how to get out of the prison. Perhaps if Loki had stalled it, things would have been different.

“It was too soon for you to leave...” he looked up at Tony, he didn’t want to give too much of himself away.

"I'm not ungrateful, it'd be a lot harder to do what I do with my arm more severely injured or... worse." Tony turned his hand to link their fingers together. "I'm just... not sure where I stand right now, I suppose..."

Loki squeezed Tony's hand tightly and looked at him. “I hoped... that you stood with me...” he said softly. “I had hoped... that you were happy to stand with me...”

"I like what's been growing between us. It seems odd to think that it's only been 3 months since your ship landed here, but we've been all but living in each other’s pockets for the majority of that." Tony smiled wryly, "You and Ádís will be leaving with the others at the end of the summer, so..."

Loki felt like his heart was squeezed just a little at that. “So...? So that’s it?” he asked softly. “So, I will forget what we have begun to forge here? So, I will move on? So, I have lost many in my past, what is one more?” He unconsciously pulled back from Tony.

Tony kept his hold tight on Loki's hand, not letting him pull away further than the length of his arm without pulling Tony along with him. "I'm not saying I want things to end with the summer, just... I don't... I saw and heard how differently the elves experienced time on Alfheim. A year was nothing to them, they talked about a year the way I talked about a week or a month at most. Being of a similar lifespan, I would imagine the Aesir experience time rather similarly when they aren't surrounded by humans, rushing about our comparatively short lives."

“They do,” Loki said softly, his fingers squeezing Tony’s again, “few of them have spent much time amongst humans. But I have... I know... I understand.” He looked up at Tony and smiled faintly. “Tony... I know I am not the easiest man to be with. I know that I am flawed as any. You do not need to use my leaving as an excuse, I understand. If you would rather try to fix things with Pepper...”

Loki had seen him with Pepper, how easily they fit into each other’s lives. Loki certainly wouldn’t fit easily into Tony’s life.

"Fix things with Pepper?" Tony looked entirely incredulous, as though he couldn't imagine where Loki had come up with that idea. "Is that why you think she was here, that she saw you and got jealous?"

“Well, I don’t know,” Loki said and felt some colour rise on his cheeks. “I was half asleep when I interacted with her. And she kept looking at me, and - I don’t know what her expression was most of the time. Jealousy or... Norn’s strike me, I don’t know,” Loki huffed, finally pulling his hand out of Tony's grip.

He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what to say. Loki knew this was dangerous territory, of all his mortal lovers, Tony was the only one to see him as he was and not shy away. Not comment upon it as if he was some sort of experiment or curiosity. Even Leonardo had been clinical at first, it had taken some time with him, but Tony? He had just rolled with it, with him. Sure, they'd spent a lot of time in the lab studying things about him and his magic, but they were doing that together, and Tony never made him feel like a specimen, he was just so... excited to learn.

Tony laughed and reached back out to take both of Loki's hands. "Loki, she was here to call me out on what she thought was a reckless 'rebound relationship'. And by the time she left, she was calling me an oblivious fool for saying you and I were 'just friends with benefits'."

Loki held his hands tightly and looked at him again. “Tony...” he said softly and smiled a bit. “I... If you want me in your life, I have every intention of being in it.”

"I think it's a bit early to be proposing marriage or anything like that," Tony grimaced, "that was actually the death knell of my last relationship. But I would like to keep seeing where this was going. I just... didn't know if I fit in anywhere once you left."

“You fit in,” Loki told him, and he meant it, “I do not plan on staying away. You keep my attention, and Ádís likes you...”

"She's a pretty awesome little girl, and more resilient than she gives herself credit for."

“She has thrived since she got here,” Loki said softly.

"There's a lot of new here," Tony pulled him in closer, and Loki let himself be pulled down to stretch out on the couch together. "From personal experience, that can help you get out of your own head when you're grieving."

Loki was quiet for a few moments, it wasn’t so long ago that he had lost his own mother and father. Being here had helped, being busy with Hela had helped. “I know,” he said quietly.

"So, we're going to do the long-distance thing, then..." Tony's voice went from serious to teasing, probably trying to lighten the mood. "Does this make you my boyfriend? Is Pepper going to get to give me the 'I told you so' face?"

“Goodness, being your boyfriend makes me sound like a child.” Loki smiled a bit, “How about we just be... monogamous friends? You haven't... with anyone else, have you?”

"No... I mean in the most technical sense, Pep wasn't wrong in the rebound accusation. You're the only person I've been with since she and I called it quits. I know I used to... Well, the me that slept around was more... trusting, or at least cared less."

“I know how that can be,” Loki agreed. “I was more frivolous on Asgard, until my true nature was spread among the court... I slept with one Lord as I really am and he... well. He spread it around, and that is when I got unwanted advances.”

Tony's expression darkened. "If I believed in karma, I'd be hoping he got some."

“He did,” Loki said. “I cut off his most favourite body part - small though it was. He became a priest not long after that.”

"...I shouldn't laugh at that," despite his words, Loki could easily hear the wry amusement in Tony’s voice.

Loki laughed a bit. “Well, it wasn’t the only time he touched me, and I wasn’t the only person whom he went after. That Lord wasn’t the only one that did so, but he was the most brazen. Father told me to ‘act like a man’ and they would leave me alone.” Loki sighed, looking at Tony, “Thor didn’t know, I only told him recently.”

"Your dad sounds even worse than mine... We're a real pair."

“I loved my father, but I didn’t like him by the end.”

"I loved and hated mine in equal measure. These days... thinking about how our relationship ended just leaves me tired."

“Nothing either of us can do about it now, I suppose.” Loki had been making a conscious effort not to think about his father. He loved Odin, he really did, despite what he had said in anger. But there were some details that Odin never told him that still made him angry. “At least you didn’t have a sadistic, secret megalomaniac of a sister, who was released with your father’s death. Surely that is a silver lining?”

Tony snorted at that. "You have me on that one."

“I do... So, in conclusion, we have decided we are monogamous friends? I refuse to call you my ‘boyfriend’.”

"Well, I suppose that sounds less trite than 'lovers'."

“Ugh, we do not live in a romance novel,” Loki protested.

"Pepper called me your 'boy toy' because of the age gap." He could hear the grin in Tony's voice, even if he was managing to keep a straight face for the moment.

Loki grinned, running his hand over Tony’s chest. “She’s not wrong, I suppose...” he sat up, looking down at Tony, his grin turning wicked. “Let’s go to bed.”

Tony laughed at that, pushing himself back up to sitting. "Found some more energy, have you?"

“For you? Always.” He stood, holding his hand out for Tony, who took it and happily let himself be pulled along to the bedroom.

It took a couple days before Loki was feeling mostly back to full strength and not sleeping so much. Things with Peter had gone similarly as they had with Ned when Loki returned to working on the ship. Only difference was that Peter, being his ever-curious self, had more than a few new questions for Loki. Both because he knew it was Loki, and because now he knew about Loki's ability to shapeshift.

Loki hadn't spent as much time as usual with Ádís the last few days, with how much he'd been sleeping, but he and Tony were both enjoying spending their evenings together with her. That was how the three found themselves sitting together on the couch in Tony's suite, eating pizza as they watched Finding Nemo. Ádís was a resilient girl, and Tony was constantly impressed with how much so, the more time he spent with her. There'd been a couple of tears shed at the opening scene of the movie, but after a short cuddle into Loki's side, she'd picked her plate up again and continued watching the colourful movie with eager eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw Loki frown a bit, but he didn’t say anything. He just quietly pulled out his phone and sent a text to Tony, so he didn’t disturb the movie. ‘Our wizard friend is trying to visit.’

'The barrier you put up is working?'

‘Yes, I can feel him trying to punch through. It is holding though. Shall I let him through or let him contact us the usual way?’ Loki couldn’t help the amused smile on his face.

'He can make an appointment like anyone else.'

Loki gave a small chuckle and put his phone away, attention drawn back to the movie.

It was about another 10 minutes before the movie paused and FRIDAY spoke, sounding uncharacteristically uncertain. "Uh, boss, there's something... growing out on the lawn."

"Can you be a bit more specific, FRIDAY, 'cause I'm guessing you're not interrupting to let us know the state of the grass."

"Type of plant is unknown, but it is growing rapidly. Already over 2 meters tall, and a half a meter in diameter, and no signs of stopping."

Loki frowned and then sighed. “Is it a tree?” he asked FRIDAY. “With vines and flowers of all different colours?”

"Not any tree I have a record of, sir, but it could be described as such. There are certainly vines with buds forming on them. The plant is now nearing 4 meters tall, and nearly a meter across."

“Ugh...” Loki grumbled and he looked to Ádís. “Little one, Tony and I have some surprise guests. Do you want to watch the rest of the movie with Bruce?”

"...Are they... bad guests?" Ádís asked him uncertainty.

“No darling. It is an old friend I have not seen in a very long time, and a human who thinks he’s very clever, but just likes to annoy me.” He gave her a small smile. “I promise everything is fine, if I had some notice of their arrival, I would even have you meet them with us. But we need to talk some business, alright?”

"Alright."

"There's a sequel to Finding Nemo, we can watch that one together," Tony offered, because she still looked quite disappointed and he much preferred seeing her smile.

"That'd be nice," and there was a hint of a smile, much better he thought.

“Okay... come, we’ll take you back to our room, and then Tony and I can go see to our boring guests.” He stood, holding his hand out for her.

Ádís took his hand, and they walked her back to Loki and Bruce's suite without any further complaint. After that they went out to the lawn, and the strange tree - now easily over 20 meters tall and covered in blooms - seemed to be finished growing.

As they crossed the lawn, a section of the trunk parted and pulled back like curtains, allowing Dr Strange and a woman to walk through. At first Tony had thought the woman to be dark of skin and wearing a green dress, but as they got closer, he realised she was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Her skin seemed to be made of soil, her long hair was vines, and the dress seemed to be a flowing sheet of moss.

Loki walked towards them and gave a respectful bow to the woman, her eyes shifted from him to Tony and then back again. “It has been many years since you came with peace in your heart, Child of Ice.”

Loki gave a wry smile as he straightened up. “I did always wonder why you called me that, my lady. Now I know the truth.”

Her eyes turned again to Tony, running over him. “My Protector... I am glad to see your heart is healed...” she placed a hand over her own chest, where the arc reactor would have sat on Tony’s. “I wish my children would not fight so...”

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met." She was clearly some sort of powerful magic user, what with the tree and all, so Tony didn't want to piss her off. But Loki had never mentioned knowing a woman made of ground and plants before either. Though given how long he’d lived and how much he’d seen, Tony could hardly hold that against him.

"Stark, this is the Lady Gaea, also known to some - such as the Aesir - as Jörð." Dr Strange looked at Loki contemplatively. "I wanted to deal with this without you, but Lady Gaea has insisted we need your help."

“Well, she and I have met,” Loki said, looking at Dr Strange. “She taught me some magic when I was young, when we took tribute to her temple.”

"It is one of her temples that is at issue."

Temples, Gaea... So Loki's weren't the only people that inspired the stories of Gods in past generations. And she had called him her protector? Tony fought a frown as he contemplated all of this. His knowledge of Ancient Greek mythology was sketchy, but he was pretty sure she was credited with creating the world. Given what she was made of, he supposed he could see where that idea came from. He wondered if the title she'd given him had to do with being Iron Man, his efforts at furthering green energy, or a bit of both.

"So, you need us to go to Greece?" If there was something requiring Avengers-level intervention in Greece, he thought they'd have heard about that by now.

"The South Pacific, actually," Dr Strange said blandly.

Loki frowned. “I didn’t know about that temple...”

Gaea laughed a little. “You think I told Odin’s ancestors about all of my temples? No, I kept some hidden... but, I meant to thank you, for protecting my temple in the Viking lands.” She smiled at Loki, “And for tending to it when you lived among my people.”

“It felt like the right thing to do,” Loki said, “but what is wrong with your temple in the south Pacific?”

"You've been wondering where the giant monsters are coming from..." Dr Strange said, as though the rest should be obvious.

That didn't seem quite right, though. Tony looked at Gaea with a frown. "Your escaped pets? Doesn't fit with what I remember of your mythos."

Gaea crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes narrowing a little. “They are not mine. They are created by one of my children, using one of my artefacts... perverting its power.”

Tony held up his hands in apology, she didn't seem like the kind of being one wanted to cross. "That... makes more sense, as much as any of this can I suppose."

“I need someone to purge them from my temple... but I cannot harm my own children.”

Loki raised an eyebrow at that. “Usually you would offer a bargain, not just demand help. You always said your children owe you nothing, and is it not your responsibility to keep your artefacts safe?”

She sighed at that, looking like she’d hope he had forgotten about that clause. “What boon would you like?”

“It is not mine to request,” Loki said and looked between Dr Strange and Tony.

"There's a big baddie called Thanos," Tony knew exactly what boon to ask for from a powerful being under the circumstances. "Apparently, he has aspirations to wipe out half of all life in the universe, and Earth is currently on his shortlist. In exchange for helping you, I want your help if or when he shows up here." They could use every scrap of help they could get to prepare for a threat like that.

Dr Strange looked at Tony curiously at that. "I haven't heard of this Thanos," he said, as though it shouldn’t be unusual for him not to have heard of an alien hundreds of worlds away. But then, maybe it was, there was a lot Tony didn’t know about the sorcerer yet.

"But you've seen his work. The Chitauri were his, he was the one that used Loki to start that invasion in the first place. And if you don't think Loki's a reliable source," because Tony could see his scepticism growing at the mention of Loki's involvement, "ask Thor about him. Thanos gives him the heebie-jeebies."

“I could show you horrors,” Loki said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I could tell you things... but all you care about is trying to launch me into an abyss. I am not the worst thing to roam the cosmos. If you care about this world, you should be assisting us.” He looked to Tony now with a nod. “A wise request from the Lady of Earth.”

“It seems like a fitting request... I can assist with off-worlders. I can never harm my own.” She bowed gracefully to Tony. “When my temple is cleared, I will find you...”

Tony looked at Dr Strange. "Any other complaints or concerns?"

His lips pressed thinly together. "At the moment, I suppose not."

"Right then," Tony clapped his hands together, "Seems like we should go gather up the others and have a briefing."

“I suppose we should,” Loki said. “We have a battle to wage.”

“If you can,” Gaea said, “I would prefer as little bloodshed as possible... They are misguided, not evil. They wish to protect me.”

Tony considered this for a moment before asking, "Do they have more of those giant creatures on the island already?"

“They are in the process of making more,” Gaea said.

“Wonderful,” Loki sighed. “Will they have more of the acid?”

“I believe so.”

"They seem like the ‘throw a giant creature at your first, ask questions later’ types," Tony couldn't help pointing out. "So, there's probably a battle in our future, whether we want to negotiate with them or not."

“They are, but minimal bloodshed would still be appreciated. That island is sacred.”

“We will try our best, Lady Gaea.” Loki looked to Dr Strange, “So, are you going to help protect your planet, or scurry off to your hole, leaving me as the only mage to help?”

Dr Strange bristled at the accusation. "Of course, I will be going. I would have dealt with the issue myself, if I didn't think there was going to be a need for brute force in resolving it."

“So, you’re at least admitting you need help. I suppose that’s a start.” Loki crossed his arms over his chest and looked to Tony. “Time to call that meeting?”

"FRIDAY, you gathering the others?"

Tony's watch lit up as she replied, "They're on their way to meeting room 3, boss. Healer Haelga has agreed to look after Miss Ádís, since all of her usual carers will be in the meeting."

"Well then, that's where the rest of us should go as well." Tony gestured for Dr Strange and Gaea to walk with them toward the main building of the compound.

When they got to the meeting room, Bruce, Thor, Valkyrie, Heimdall, Peter, Rhodey and Vision were all waiting. Only Heimdall and Vision looked entirely unsurprised at seeing Gaea and Dr Strange, and they went over it all with the group from the beginning again. Everyone was onboard with doing whatever needed to be done to stop the monsters destroying more swaths of oceanside cities, but the real question was, how did they go about arriving undetected? Sneaking up on a small island surrounded by open ocean would be a challenge.

The location wasn't one Loki had ever teleported to, so he couldn't be as precise with his arrival as they'd like, and Dr Strange's portals could only be made so big, which meant it would present a choke point if they were noticed as they arrived. Since there wasn't an active attack going on, they could take the time to use a couple of cloaked quinjets, but they'd need to plan their landing carefully. While they were all debating the merits of that plan, Tony and FRIDAY went about settling the issue.

"Here," Tony said, as he pulled up a screen on the wall that showed satellite imagery of an island. "This is about 6 months old, as for some reason," it was totally magic, "there's apparently been heavy cloud cover consistently over the island since, but it should do for a general map. Unless there's been some major terraforming since then?" He gave Gaea a questioning look.

“No, the island is unchanged, except for renovations to the temple under the mountain.”

“Well that’s something at least,” Loki said, studying the aerial image.

Rhodey walked up to view it more closely, pointing out a couple of spots of interest. "Here and here would be good landing sites if we want to approach the mountain from opposite sides."

That started a new round of debates until they had all agreed on a plan of action and left to gather their equipment. When they were all on the roof with the quinjets, they found Gaea and Dr Strange there waiting for them.

“I hope your battle goes well,” she said to Dr Strange, Loki and Tony as they readied to leave. “When the task is done, I will leave a token for you. Call for me when you require my aid.” She walked to Tony, leaning down and spoke softly into his ear.

“Your heart is strong... Be my champion, your past has been forgiven. I will see you when the time is right.”

Tony stared at her as she pulled away with a soft smile, unsure what to say to that. Before he could come up with something, she seemed to burst into a thousand sparks of light, which as they dispersed revealed themselves to be fireflies, flying off into the night.

"Well that was... something," Rhodey said dryly, and turned to walk into his quinjet.

Tony would have teased him about the ineloquence, but he didn't have anything better to say about their mysterious visitor either. So, giving the rest a shrug, Tony headed toward the other quinjet. They had a long flight ahead of them, more than enough time to ponder the words of a woman that seemed to be made mysteriously of the components of nature around them.

"Let's get out of here, we have more giant monsters to kill," he said as he walked up the ramp, and the rest split up behind him.

Chapter Text

"No, I am not staying behind in the quinjet." Tony instinctively went to cross his arms, but he aborted the gesture mid-way through, because it would press the back of his arm and the healing skin against the inside of his suit uncomfortably. Which, of course, was the source of the disagreement with Loki in the first place.

“But you are still healing,” Loki said, his eyes on Tony’s arm. “And it’s not like we’re short on people helping, we have the wizard now.” Loki motioned to Dr Strange. “He should be good for something at least. You can stay back unless we really need you.”

"I'm not an invalid, Loki, I've fought with far worse injuries than this. We're going to need a combination of air and ground support for the various tactics we've planned. And Pete can hardly ride on Dr Strange's back, given it's the waving of his magic cloak that lets him float in the first place."

“Well - I could always be a dragon or the flying cat again. And I’m not saying you’re an invalid. I’m saying that you do not need to fight... you are injured. Injured warriors should not fight unless it is necessary.”

"Loki, just because we are monogamous friends," and honestly, that sounded even more ridiculous than 'boyfriends' despite their respective ages, but Tony was going to keep humouring him, "that doesn't mean I'm going to let you wrap me in cotton wool. I'm Iron Man, this is what I do, it's a part of who I am. And who I am, does not sit on the side-lines and let other people fight my battles."

“I am not trying to wrap you in cotton wool,” Loki said, crossing his arms. “If you were not injured, I would have no concern. I watched Ulfric go to battle and war numerous times. It is not because you are human that I am concerned.” He sighed. “But I am not going to try to force anything on you, it is your choice to go into battle. I was just saying you do not need to.”

"There's no-one else that can play my role in our plan, unless you want to teleport between quinjets in mid-flight to swap me for Rhodey or Vision." Tony wasn't annoyed that Loki was concerned for him, he'd be concerned if Loki was going into the fight injured as well. He was more annoyed that Loki let them get all the way through planning a strategy, and only raised his concerns when they were a mere 30 minutes out from the island. It was... frustrating. Also, there was just no way he wasn't going into this fight, even if it was just to provide long-distance aerial support.

Loki sighed softly, leaning back in his seat. “I can’t do that - or I can but it’s dangerous. I should have spoken about it before, I’m sorry I got distracted. Our new wizard was being a pain.”

"Do not blame me for your romantic difficulties," Dr Strange said, without opening his eyes, from where he was supposedly meditating at the far end of the hold.

“You know, for someone who is meditating, you are very chatty,” Loki said to him.

Dr Strange opened his eyes and rested his hands on his knees at that. "I finished my meditation half an hour ago. It just seemed less irksome to maintain the pose as a form of rest, rather than give you the opportunity to attempt to engage me in more of your insults."

Loki rolled his eyes at that. “Like you’re even worth my time. Human wizards have never been very imaginative. Go back to your fake meditating if it suits you.”

"Sorcerer," Dr Strange couldn't help correcting. Tony wondered when he'd realise it was because of the correcting that Loki kept calling him a wizard.

Loki snorted at that. “Really? Sorcerer? You? I think not.”

Tony went to the cockpit, where Thor was flying with Peter in the co-pilot’s seat, letting Loki and Dr Strange's bickering fall into an amusing background noise. Thor looked over his shoulder at him with a small smirk.

"Monogamous friends?"

"Your brother came up with that term, don't blame me."

"Uh huh," Thor chuckled and looked back out the windows through the cloud cover. It had been getting steadily thicker for the last half hour. Peter was hiding his own laughter behind his hand and Tony just shook his head.

"How far out are we?"

"About 20 minutes according to the coordinates, I've had the cloak engaged for the last hour so they should not see us coming. I will drop below the cloud cover soon to try to get a visual of the island."

"Those two should have worn out their bickering by then."

"You underestimate my brother's stamina for insults."

Tony gave an ear to the hold where the two were still at it and snorted with amusement. "You might have a point."

It wasn't long after Thor brought them beneath the clouds that they got the visual which confirmed they were nearly at the right place. Tony could say it was the lush tropical forest, with the distinctive volcanic mountain, plumes of white smoke coming from it, that confirmed they were in the right place. But really, it was the giant-ass Godzilla walking along the beach that gave it away, and if he wasn't mistaken because of the distance, this one was half again bigger than the one that had struck LA.

"Are you seeing what we're seeing?" Rhodey's voice came across the quinjet's comms, they had raidoed in only a few moments before that they would be dipping beneath the clouds as well.

"If you're talking about Godzilla's much bigger brother, then yes."

"Actually, he was talking about the crab that has to be at least four stories tall," Bruce chimed in dryly.

"Oh goodie, a two-for-one deal right out of the gate. Guess we've each got our targets to start with then."

“Wonderful,” Loki said with a sigh. “Well then, time to see what Earth Wizards can do now I suppose.” Loki looked back to Dr Strange. “Are you ready?”

He nodded, studying the view out the cockpit windows. "I can mire it in the ground like it's quicksand, to slow it down for the rest of you to defeat, though it will probably work best if it's brought inland a bit further."

"That's my queue then," Tony triggered his helmet to start folding up around him. "Annoy the thing into following me into the trees is totally something I can do. Pete, you want a ride, I'll drop you in on my way down, so you can rig up some trip lines?"

"Can do Mr. Stark," the boy pulled on his mask and headed for the hatch.

Tony caught Loki's eye, just before the faceplate came down, giving him a grin and a wink. "See you on the other side."

Loki watched as Tony walked right out of the opening hatch into a dead-drop, Peter sending out a rope of webbing to hang on as he dropped down behind him.

Loki watched them for a few moments, as Tony's thrusters kicked in and the pair arced up into the air heading for the island, before looking back to Dr Strange. “Do you need to be on the ground for your spell or will you remain here?”

"Despite what you think of me, I'm not afraid of getting involved." His hands started with the showy movements that brought a sling-ring portal to life, a section of the beach's tree-line coming into view. "Are you joining me, or will you be dropping in from the air with your brother?"

A glance showed Thor was just finishing the auto-pilot settings to leave the quinjet in Friday's capable care.

“I was going to fly myself down, but your portal will save energy.” He pointed a finger at Dr Strange. “Just as long as you promise I will not be falling the moment I enter it.”

The wizard rolled his eyes and gestured for Loki to go first through the portal, "You will merely step out upon the sand."

Loki walked over and inspected the portal for a moment before walking through onto the sand. He had to admit, it was an elegant form of portal. Not that he would admit that to the wizard of course. He saw ‘godzilla’ up the beach being harassed by Tony. Loki couldn’t help the smirk that graced his face as the thing roared and tried to swat Tony like a fly, but Tony was much too fast. Dr Strange stepped out beside him and closed the portal, as he opened his mouth to say something there was an almighty roar behind them.

They both turned around, looking for the source of the rage filled noise. It didn’t take long for them to find the source.

“Oh no… not another one…” Loki complained, unable to shake the after-image of Surtur, as he watched a gigantic creature of stone and fire climb from the volcanic crater atop the mountain.

Through his ear-piece, he heard Tony complain, "Who ordered the Balrog? Someone tell Tolkien he can have it back." A larger burst of mini-missiles shot at the giant lizard, as Tony egged it on toward where a stream made a clear path inland.

"I can see where the boy has laid his trap, this way," Dr Strange demanded and his cloak took him into the air towards where a tangle of webbing was being strung across the stream, mostly shielded from view of the lizard by bushy palms growing out from the shores.

As the wizard took up position to lay his spells, a large rock engulfed in flames came crashing down beside Loki. And another. Every time Loki moved it seemed more came for him. He realised after a few moments, the ‘balrog’ was hurling the rocks at himself, Peter, and Dr Strange.

“It is aiming for those of us who have landed on the ground of the island. Avoid landing if you can avoid it.” Loki kept an eye on the rocks as the balrog began climbing down the mountain coming directly for them. They would need to deal with Godzilla quickly, as the last thing they wanted was to have two of them together to deal with at once.

"Copy," Rhodey, who was monitoring their channel for his team, said as he added, "who knew there would have been a benefit to landing on the acid-spitting crab?"

"Been there, done that, I don't recommend buying the t-shirt," Tony quipped as he darted out of the way of the lizard swiping at him.

The clouds were churning above, lightning flashing within them, and at the heart of it Loki spotted Thor, just before he had to dodge to avoid another molten rock.

The lightning that hit Godzilla would have been spectacular, had it not seemed to just annoy the creature rather than hurt it. It roared in fury as it continued to try to grab Tony, but the strike of lightning seemed to distract it enough to step into the trap laid by Peter and Dr Strange. It sank down, but was still thrashing around and needed to be permanently dealt with.

As another flaming boulder hit near Godzilla, aiming at Pete, Loki was struck with an idea.

“Peter, Strange, let us have the damn balrog aim those boulders where it may be of some use to us.”

"What-" before Peter could finish his question, Dr Strange was scooping him up, to deposit on the opposite bank, putting the lizard between them and the golem of molten stone. Perhaps he should give the wizard a bit more credit for his intelligence.

It didn’t take long for one of the balrog's many boulders to hit Godzilla in the head. The balrog roared in fury once more, abandoning its rock throwing, and making a beeline for the beach. Loki watched as the lines of lava over the rocky body began to glow hotter, turning almost blue, and he knew instinctively what it was about to do.

He centred himself between Peter and Dr Strange, throwing up a forcefield large enough to circle them, Thor and Tony both, who had come in for a closer look at the lizard to ensure it was dead.

No sooner was the shield up than a jet of blue flames had engulfed them all.

This one was not going to be as easy to defeat.

"Well shit," was Tony's near speechless observation, as the blue flames burned across the surface of the shield. As they faded, one thing was abundantly clear though, if the lizard had not been dead before, it most certainly was now. "Right, no time to stop for barbeque, anyone have thoughts on how to stop Te Kā? I don't have a heart of Te Fiti handy."

"I highly doubt our solution will be found in a Disney film, do try to be serious," Dr Strange scolded as he tracked the arc of another molten boulder as it flew through the air and bounced off the shield into the water, sizzling as lava does when it meets the cool waters of the sea. "Loki, I believe this one will be up to us."

“Water and ice,” Loki said with a nod, his mind turning to strategy while half of his concentration remained on the shield. “I do not think it will be stupid enough to simply follow us into the water and I have not yet mastered the form of an ice dragon - though that would be very useful. I need to add that to my list of things to learn.”

"The crab is down, is your team good with the volcano monster?" Rhodey asked over the comms, "Because we've got a bunch of angry cultists headed our way, and I doubt I'll be lucky enough to take them all down with those knock-out grenades, Tony."

"You focus on what you've got, platypus. If you can get Gaea's artifact away from them, the balrog might take care of itself." Tony looked over at Loki and Dr Strange, "What do you need us to do?"

Quickly, they devised their plan to keep the creature distracted, as they split into two groups. They all knew there was little the non-mages could likely do to stop it, but annoying it into distraction? Well, Loki had always said that was Thor's forte.

The strategy was working, but Loki had been right, the creature knew enough to stay back from the beach, and as the forest caught fire around it, the heat and flames only seemed to add to its strength. Whatever trick the wizard had used on the lizard, it didn't seem to work on this creature made of that very same stone, and Dr Strange switched his entire focus into drawing sea water up the stream to douse the burning flames.

It wasn't enough though, even with Loki's own spells, and the rain Thor had begun to call down, the creature just seemed to become ever more annoyed. Every time the cooled a section of its hide to stone, it would crack and burst, more magma oozing out to run over the surface and turn it molten once more. They needed something stronger, something that would chill it to its very core.

Loki tried everything he could think of to stop the creature, well, not everything, but as the red hot magma began to turn blue once more he knew he couldn’t let the creature breathe fire again. There was no way he could get everyone to him safely within a shield in time.

As the balrog opened its mouth and leaned down to breathe fire, Loki pulled out the Casket of Ancient Winters and blasted it straight in the face. He knew it wouldn’t be a quick use, he knew he’d need to keep a sustained blast to cool the creature down sufficiently. The ice began to coat the creature inside and out, and as the sustained cold changed his own skin from pale to blue he felt his stomach drop, but he continued the assault.

After what seemed like hours, the creature collapsed, breaking apart and Loki stepped back, banishing the Casket safely away, staring down at his hands in horror.

Why were they still blue? They should be changing back by now.

There was a hint of pity in Dr Strange's eyes as he stepped in front of Loki. "The heat of the rising sun will be stronger on the far side of the island, if it will aid your return to normal."

Loki took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice steady. “Thank you,” he said quietly and he glanced to see the others hurrying towards him. “Please tell them I need to meditate… I need…” he balled his hands into fists. He needed to be alone. “I need to breathe.”

Without waiting for Dr Strange’s reply, Loki teleported himself to the other side of the island and sat in the sand, willing the sun to burn away the monster showing in his skin.

Tony wanted to go after Loki, make sure he was alright after having used so much magic to stop the balrog, the sensors in his suit had been registering levels of magical interference well beyond anything Loki had displayed in the lab, and then there was the fact he'd turned blue, but Dr Strange was adamant they not chase after him right away.

He still might have argued about it more, if Rhodey hadn't chosen then to inform them the lead cultist had summoned a horde of baby acid spitting crabs to defend him, and back-up was needed urgently.

Tony fortunately had a few more of the knock-out grenades on him, and he finished what Rhodey had started. Without someone controlling Gaea's artifact, the horde of crabs became disorganized, and it was only a matter of time until the last of them had been destroyed.

Before Tony could take back to the air, Dr Strange thrust Gaea's artifact at him, forcing him to take it or let it drop. It reminded him of the glowing blue object he'd spotted Loki with, at the heart of the ice and wind, but it had been gone by the time the balrog fell. This one glowed green, flickering between the soft yellow-green of new grass, to the deep green of the jungle. Around the edges of it were twisted brown vines, as though they had grown out of the box itself to make the wooden handles with which it could be grasped.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

Tony wondered if he looked just as smug when quirking a disapproving eyebrow, but chose not to examine that thought too closely. "Gaea has chosen you as her champion, for some unfathomable reason, so you must be the one to return the Casket of Life to its plinth, and collect your boon."

With his faceplate still down, Tony didn't resist the urge to roll his eyes, what was it with mages and their need to sound like they'd stepped from an Arthurian legend? Strange proved it was a trait that spanned worlds. "Seriously? You're the one that arrived with her, seems like you're BFFs and all."

"Stark, the longer you argue with me, the longer you shall have to wait to go chase after your paramour."

Shit, was he being that transparent? "Fine, whatever, I didn't really want to be part of clean-up duty anyway." Even his suit was struggling to filter out the stench of burned crab, as the others gathered up the cultists to stow on the quinjets.

Taking to the air, Tony flew towards the base of the mountain, it was only as he got closer, it became obvious that what looked like a great cave, most likely carved by the volcano within, was in fact distinctly man-made in origin.

The green glow from the casket lit the way as he landed within the entrance and walked deeper in. Instead of the rocky crevices, and possible stalactites and stalagmites he expected to see, the further from the entrance he got, the more lush greenery there seemed to be growing up and around him. What would have felt airy and tropical out on the beach, only grew more eerie in the darkness, and the strange shadows thrown by the pulsing green light of the casket.

Eventually the cave widened into a large vaulted chamber, the ceiling of the space so high above that even the tall palms around the edges failed to reach the top. In the center of it all stood what must be the plinth Dr Strange had been referring to, though unlike the opening of the cave, this felt entirely organic. Looking like it had grown up out of the cave floor, the gnarl of vines and roots was oddly symmetrical, and ended in an unnaturally level top.

Tony hadn't really been sure what to expect as he set the casket upon the plinth, but the sudden brightness of afternoon sun filling the space without a scrap of sky in sight, was certainly not it, and Tony had to close his eyes for a moment to allow they time to adjust to the overwhelming brightness around him.

“Thank you for returning The Casket of Life and not harming my children,” Gaea’s voice filled the room. Flowers began to bloom around him, and a particularly large one grew from the side of the plinth. As its petals opened, a small carved stone appeared. “When you have need of me, break this stone and bury it in the ground, I will find you.”

As he picked up the stone to examine it, Tony murmured, "Not in a Disney movie my ass. Elsa stopped a balrog, and I've been given the Heart of Te Fiti."

A soft laughter filled the chamber, before fading away. Tony supposed that meant Gaea enjoyed his sense of humour.

Stashing the stone safely in a compartment of his suit, Tony headed back out of the cave. When he got to the entrance, both quinjets were parked outside, and everyone but Loki was gathered around.

"Well that was fast, thought you'd still be cleaning up when I got back."

Brue gave him a look like he'd said something ridiculous, "Tony, you've been in that cave for over 9 hours, the sun's nearly setting."

"What? That can't be right..."

"Boss," FRIDAY's voice piped up in his ear, "the suit's inner chronometer is out of sync by 8 hours and 49 minutes. It is a relief to be able to reach you once more."

Tony flipped up the faceplate to give Dr Strange a hard stare, but he only smiled enigmatically, "Time doesn't move the same for all beings in the universe, Stark. Something I suspect you will have to get used to."

"You," he pointed at Strange, "need to answer more than a few questions for me, but right now I just want the answer to one. Where's Loki?"

"He's spent the day walking the beach, Boss. He's nearly circled the whole island, Mister Loki is currently sitting on the sand a few minutes' walk past the giant crab."

"Well," Tony stepped out of his suit, might as well get a few minutes to enjoy walking on a tropical beach, since he missed out on the better part of a day, "I guess I know where I'm headed then."

Loki sat alone on the beach on Gaea’s island, looking at the horizon as the sun set. He could still feel the chill in his bones from the casket. Still remembered the first time he had used it. The Destroyer coming alive, marking him as an intruder.

He hadn’t thought too much on it since he had fallen from the bifrost. Had tried to just push it to the back of his mind, but the others had seen. Had witnessed his skin turn from pale to blue, along with red eyes he assumed.

Pulling his knees up to his chest, Loki found himself grateful for the solitude of the beach. He didn’t need to be near anyone else right now. He wrapped his arms around his legs, still watching the setting sun. He wished he could banish the feeling, wished he could forget. Wished he hadn’t needed to use the casket to finish off the golem of magma.

But as much as he'd appreciated the space, it had been hours and Tony had yet to seek him out, which seemed out of character. Tony had seen him. He hoped he hadn’t looked too monstrous, hoped he hadn’t frightened his friend away. He supposed Strange could still be keeping the others away, ensuring he had as much time as he needed to recover. It was surprisingly thoughtful, given how antagonistic they had been to each other thus far. Perhaps he would refrain from taunting the wizard too much the next time they interacted.

Loki had been sitting there a while when he heard footsteps approaching, crunching over the sand of the beach.

"All of the cultists have been removed. The first quinjet has left to drop them at Bellows Air Force Station on the way back, Rhodey's going to stay there with them to do the paperwork side of things. He'll fly home from Hawaii on his own after." Tony sat down beside him.

“That’s good,” Loki said softly. “I’m glad your grenades worked so well on them.”

"Didn't knock them out quite as well as I'd have liked, but it's hard balancing getting enough gas, without overdoing it and risking actually killing the targets."

“I think there are alchemical concoctions on Alfheim that might work... It’s something you can look into when you visit me. If you still wish to...”

Tony looked at him with a furrowed brow, Loki could see it from the corner of his eye, though he refused to turn his head and risk seeing his disgust.

"Why wouldn't I?" He genuinely sounded puzzled at Loki's statement.

Loki pulled his legs tighter against his chest. “Because you saw what I am,” he whispered quietly. He’d seen the monster beneath the facade. No one that he cared about had seen that. His father had seen it. Heimdall had seen it... and now Tony, now Thor. He didn’t know how Thor would react, it was one thing to know he was different, it was another to see it properly.

"...You mean when you turned blue?"

Every muscle in Loki tensed, he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t relax. The self-disgust and loathing rose in his chest. “Yes,” he whispered, his eyes staying at the sunset. He could feel tears stinging his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. When Tony's hand landed on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze, he nearly looked at him in surprise.

"I presume that's what ice jotun look like?"

“Almost,” Loki said, still quiet, as if speaking any louder would chase Tony away. “They are larger than I - I am a runt you see... abandoned to die in a temple with the same casket I used this morning.”

"Well whoever did that, they were clearly fools," Tony said heatedly, and he moved closer so his arm could side across to wrap around Loki's back.

Loki closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. “As a child, I was told the frost giants killed and raped our people. Took us as slaves, ate us. The awful stories I was told... and then... I am one of them.” He looked at Tony, still trying to keep the tears from falling. “I thought I was a freak, I thought my anatomy was a curse - but I don’t even know if it is normal to be like this. If this is what the frost jotun are like, or if it is just me. And I don’t want to know - I still hate them. I hate who I was born to. I hate what I am.”

"When you found out... That was just before Thor was banished to Earth, wasn't it?"

“Yes,” Loki said, fresh anger boiling. “And we were not even meant to get to Jotunheim. Heimdall was meant to do his damn job and stop us at the bifrost. But no - as usual - he bowed to Thor and did what the Prince wanted, in direct opposition to the king’s law.” Loki looked away from Tony, looking at the sun as it dipped below the horizon. “I found out what I was on Jotunheim. One of the frost giants grabbed me and instead of a frostburn I turned blue...”

"That... explains a lot." Tony sighed, but he leaned into Loki rather than pulling away. "You've made more than a few questionable life choices, but the same can be said for me... I'm not going to walk away from you just because I've seen you with blue skin, Loki."

Loki felt his breathing hitch and he leaned into Tony. “It’s not just the blue skin... it’s... everything...” He looked at Tony now, his hand moving to cup his cheek. “I am so sorry for what I did to your home... I wish I’d seen another way. I wish I hadn’t been too full of anger, fear, and hate to see a path out... I’m sorry Tony.” He closed his eyes, touching his forehead to Tony’s. “I can’t tell the world - I’m too proud to tell them - the hands that grabbed me, the prison I found myself in, the smell of my own flesh burning - I can’t... but you - I can tell you.”

Tony's own breath was unsteady as he closed his eyes. When he spoke, the pain in his voice, Loki wondered what he was seeing behind those closed eyelids. "When you've been hurt, been forced to look at your life and what's brought you to a point where you're at the mercy of men without any... the urge to burn everything to the ground is a powerful one."

“You understand,” Loki said softly. Of course Tony understood, he knew his history, knew what had happened with Afghanistan. Tony knew... “Quite a pair we are,” Loki whispered.

"Two broken messes," Tony's lips quirked in a wry smile as he opened his eyes to look into Loki's own, "but we seem to be doing alright together so far."

“We are,” Loki agreed quietly. “Tony... never change.”

"I've already done a lot of changing... I know I'm still pretty neurotic, but... I'd like to think I'm a better person now than I once was." He gave a little huff of wry laughter. "I've apparently even been pardoned for my sins by the avatar of my planet now."

Loki laughed a little. “Gaea did seem to like you.”

"Well I'm quite likable, in small doses at least."

“More than small doses,” Loki said with a smile.

"You're unfairly charming when you're not playing at taking over the world." Tony's smile grew and Loki caught his eyes, glancing at his lips. That was the only warning he had before Tony leaned in the rest of the way and was kissing him.

After a few minutes of kissing that was passionate, but not building toward anything, just kissing for kissing's sake, Tony pulled back with a small huff of laughter. "Was it inappropriate of me to want to kiss you during our mutual existential crisis?"

“No. I think I needed it.” He stroked Tony’s cheek and sighed, a happy sigh this time. “I suppose we should go find the others so we can go home.”

"Yeah, probably." Tony looked out along the curving coast of the island, in the direction of pristine beach that hadn't been churned up by the monstrous crab he'd have walked by to reach Loki. "Shame this place has been used as a factory for giant monsters. It's much more suited to a peaceful getaway from the cares of the world... That said, if I had to go more than 12 hours awake without access to my tech, I'd probably go stir-crazy, but the point's the same."

“Well then, I suppose I will need to make sure you have a workroom in my home on Alfheim.” He looked at him curiously. “I wonder what your scanners will pick up there...”

Loki didn't miss the surprised delight in Tony's eyes at the offer. "I don't know, but I'd love to find out. They have so much magic worked into their daily life, I'd love to see how it compares to the readings we've done in a controlled environment."

“Well then, I will make sure to put aside some space for you. I think it will take me about two earth weeks to get a suitable living space for Ádís and I. Once we are settled, I will come get you and you can set up your work room.”

"I'll look forward to it."

After a few moments more of sitting in companionable silence, Tony stood and held his hand out to Loki. "Time to get back to reality, I suppose."

“I suppose,” Loki took his hand and stood. “I think we both deserve a few days to relax after this. I’m thinking you, your bed, and me tied to it.” He looked at Tony with a grin. “Bruce can take care of Ádís for a few days...”

Tony laughed at that. "Pete's only at the compound for 5 more days. Tempting as you are, I think I need to take a raincheck until he and Ned have gone back to the city."

“5 Days... I can wait 5 days,” he said with a wicked smile. “Can you?”

"I think you were named wrong. You should have been called the 'God of Temptation'," Tony grinned widely and pulled him in for another kiss.

"Monogamous friends, indeed," Thor's amused chuckle was like a bucket of ice water down his back, and Loki drew away with a sigh.

“We will finish this later,” he murmured to Tony and looked to Thor. “Shut up. Let me enjoy this.”

Thor turned around and headed back toward the temple, still chuckling under his breath. "The quinjets are ready to take off, whenever you two are done with your liason."

“And this, this is why sometimes I stab him,” Loki said looking at Tony.

That had Tony laughing. "Given he'll have healed from a minor stab wound in an hour easily, I can totally understand the urge."

“Exactly,” Loki said with a long-suffering sigh. “Come on then, let us go to the quinjets so we can go home.”

And if Tony kept his hand linked with Loki's on the way back, Loki was hardly going to complain about it. Even if he did want to reach for one of his knives at the amused look in Thor's eye as they boarded the jet.

The rest of the summer passed in a blur. Peter and Ned went back to New York, after which Loki and Tony sequestered themselves away for the weekend, supposedly in the name of 'experiments', but Thor just laughed whenever that was said.

The governments of Earth were less than pleased to have lost their power in the negotiations, but no-one was willing to offer a deal as good as Alfheim's, so they had to work with what they could get. By the end of August, the groundwork for a trade deal was in place, and further negotiation would have to wait until Asgard was established in their new home.

When the ship left there was a stillness over the compound that hadn't been there in months. The twenty or so people that had remained to travel with Loki couldn't compare to the hundreds there had been before, and Tony resolved to head back to New York as soon as Loki and the others were gone.

It took a couple of days to send everyone through to Alfheim, along with all their supplies to start the colony. At the end it was just Loki and Ádís left to go.

Tony tried to play it casual, but there was a knot of tension in his stomach at the knowledge of just how far apart they were. This was different from when he and Pepper were together and she'd gone to meetings in Tokyo. Loki, Ádís, and his people weren't just going to be an easy phone call away. So, when in doubt, he babbled.

"I'm going to get the long-range communication equipment we've been building moved to my house on Long Island tomorrow, but the satellite won't be in orbit until next week. That should still be ready in time to contact Thor and get an update for you by the time you're ready for me to visit."

“That’s good,” Loki said with a small smile, stepping closer to him. “Thor and I were talking... I have been appointed as official ambassador for Asgard, which means I will need an office. Do you have any suggestions on where I should set up?”

Tony brightened at that. "Well, here is clearly too far from the heart of things, you'd have to do everything via teleconference. And I have this ridiculously large house in Long Island. I'm sure you could find a room there that would be suitable as an office, while you negotiate for something more... official."

“Wonderful,” Loki said with a grin. “Well, I will be getting my home set up over the next few days. I know which building I want and King Frey has graciously sent furniture for me and the colony so it shouldn’t take long. And then I will come to your home in Long Island and set up my office... and a bedroom for Ádís.” He looked to Ádís with a smile. “I made my little lady a promise that where I go, she can follow, as long as it is safe.”

Ádís smiled up at him. "I like travelling with you."

Loki grinned and looked back to Tony. “I’ll be back faster than you know it, you’ll soon be sick of me.”

"I can't see that happening." He looked down at Ádís, "Or with you. I'll get your room started and you can decide what you want to finish it with when you get back, alright?"

Ádís' smile grew wider as she gave him a pleased nod. Tony could already picture what room he wanted to give her, with some sort of forest mural along one wall, and as much Disney memorabilia as Ádís' heart desired.

Loki smiled and leaned in, kissing Tony softly on the mouth. “I will see you soon,” he said and stepped back, taking Ádís’s hand in his. He looked down at her and smiled. “Ready to go?”

"Ready," she squeezed Loki's hand and Tony felt nearly as much of a pang at seeing her go as Loki. He was going to miss their movie nights as they worked their way through the entirety of Disney, Dreamworks, and Pixar's combined libraries.

“See you soon,” Loki said with a smile. “Don’t get into too much trouble while we’re gone.” And with those words, he flicked his wrist and he and Ádís were gone.

Tony stood there for a few moments, letting their absence sink in. He wasn't going to let himself get melancholy about it though, so he turned and clapped his hands together, heading for his lab. "Right, FRIDAY, we've got packing and remodelling to do."

"On it, Boss."

Tony grinned and strode off with a sense of purpose in his step.